Diving into the heart of Rendez-vous numérique 2025: between inspiration and reflection

From April 8 to 10, 2025, the Port of Québec's Cruise Terminal was transformed into a veritable hub of digital innovation. The Rendez-vous numérique brought together over 1,000 professionals for more than 70 conferences and activities, exploring themes as varied as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, technological entrepreneurship and CSR criteria (ESG).

Among the conference highlights, my colleague Stéphanie Turmel and I attended presentations such as.

• "Axeptio: Transparency, consent and cookies in a post-RGPD world": as partners of Axeptio, it was particularly rewarding to see how data protection and user experience issues are evolving. This conference highlighted the importance of ethical and transparent online consent management.
  
  
• "Trend - Changing World": an inspiring presentation on the rapidly evolving global digital landscape, new consumer behaviors, and the challenges these changes impose on organizations wishing to remain relevant in a context of constant innovation.
  
  
• "3 keys to operating a 'future-proof' digital transformation": a conference rich in concrete advice for building resilient and sustainable digital strategies, based on innovation, organizational agility and user experience.

These sessions, among others, not only broadened my understanding of current digital challenges, but also sparked thoughts on how we, as professionals, can contribute to a more ethical and inclusive digital future.

Looking to the future: rethinking digital professions in the age of AI

Of all the conferences I attended at Rendez-vous numérique 2025, one in particular made a deep impression on me: the closing panel on the future of digital professions. A frank discussion, sometimes disturbing, but absolutely necessary for anyone involved in this fast-changing ecosystem.

Against a backdrop of tense economic conditions, we have to produce more with fewer resources. Companies are now looking for professionals with increasingly refined, specific and readily available skills. Generalization is no longer enough; specialized expertise is becoming the new norm.

Another subject has caught the imagination: the place of women in the digital world. Although their proportion is increasing, 25% of women in the sector is still not enough to reverse the major structural dynamics. A reflection that invites us to go beyond simple representativeness to consider more systemic actions.

Turning to artificial intelligence, the panel sketched out a future in which the sector will be polarized between two major forces: accelerated innovation on the one hand, and ethical responsibility on the other. Two currents that will require us to constantly adapt, to display unprecedented intellectual agility.

The image evoked by the panelists was particularly telling: fewer and fewer traditional agencies, and more and more AI-enhanced agents. Small teams overwhelmed by a sea of data, channels and decisions to be made, with budgets that are not increasing. In this environment, yesterday's marketing strategist becomes tomorrow's AI architect, with totally redefined skills.

Yet certain fundamentals remain unchanged: mastering AI is most effective when one has first understood the task to be accomplished without it. Human intuition, critical judgment and creativity remain fundamental skills, which new technologies can build on.

Today, the lifespan of skills is shorter than ever. What we know how to do today could become obsolete tomorrow. This calls for a change in posture: learning can no longer be an isolated moment, it must become a continuous movement, part of our daily professional lives.

The panel also posed an essential question: how can we rethink continuing education? It's no longer just a matter of attending compulsory seminars, but of taking an active, personalized approach. Building an individual development plan becomes a shared responsibility between employees and managers, almost a new social contract of employment.

Learning is no longer limited to formal training. It also involves experimentation, practice and the creation of spaces to "play" with new tools, develop pilot projects, test, make mistakes and try again. It also means learning to master the risks that these technologies bring.

Towards a more human digital future

This closing panel reminded me just how central the human element remains to digital transformation. In a world where everything evolves at the speed of light, our ability to learn, to question and to evolve collectively will be our best response. Not against technology, but with it, in a responsible and enlightened way.

At a time when technologies are reshaping our professions, one thing is certain: learning to learn is becoming our greatest strength. More than ever, it's our ability to evolve with awareness that will define our place in the digital future.

Are we ready to rethink our skills before the market forces us to?