Bold ideas can spark change. But only those who execute, scale and persist when things get hard turn ambition into real impact.
That was the central lesson of the session hosted by clubWAW! and club Yaka! at Voxdale in Antwerp. Voxdale CEO Tim Dieryckx, Bert Bruggeman, Chairman of The Ocean Cleanup and former Tesla manufacturing leader, and Boyan Slat, founder of The Ocean Cleanup, shared how ambitious ideas can evolve into solutions that transform industries and tackle global challenges.
The real challenge starts after the prototype
At Voxdale, the focus is clear: helping entrepreneurs turn promising ideas into products that can scale and compete globally. As CEO Tim Dieryckx explained, that is where the real challenge of hardware innovation begins. A prototype may prove the concept, but success depends on whether you can actually build it at scale.
Unlike software, hardware requires engineering, manufacturing and supply chains to align from day one. For entrepreneurs, that means thinking about production, costs and global markets from the very start.
“The real challenge in hardware is not building the first prototype, but scaling it to production.”
Tim Dieryckx, CEO of Voxdale
Thinking in systems, not silos
Real change rarely begins with massive transformations. It starts with smaller initiatives that gradually reshape the wider system.
That was the core message of Bert Bruggeman, Chairman of The Ocean Cleanup and former Tesla manufacturing leader. After decades in Silicon Valley and years helping scale Tesla’s factory operations, he has seen how complex systems behave under pressure.
His insight: many of today’s biggest challenges are system problems, yet organisations still optimise for speed, cost or efficiency within their own boundaries.
For entrepreneurs, the lesson is clear: lasting impact comes from designing solutions that are not only efficient, but resilient.
“With courage, small islands of coherence can reshape the system.”
Bert Bruggeman, Chairman of The Ocean Cleanup and former Tesla manufacturing leader
Solving global problems by finding leverage
Boyan Slat today leads a global organisation removing millions of kilos of waste and scaling solutions worldwide, proving how far ambition and persistence can take an idea.
His journey started at sixteen, when he saw more plastic than fish during a scuba dive. Instead of accepting the problem, he set out to solve it.
The breakthrough came years later. His team discovered that the biggest leverage point was not the ocean itself, but the rivers feeding it. Just 1% of rivers accounts for around 80% of the plastic entering the ocean.
For entrepreneurs, the lesson is clear: solving big problems often starts by finding the right leverage point.
“The only thing between today’s reality and cleaner oceans is execution.”
Boyan Slat, Founder of The Ocean Cleanup
What we take away from this session
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Great ideas are only the starting point. Turning them into scalable solutions is where real entrepreneurship begins.
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The biggest breakthroughs often come from identifying the right leverage point in a complex system.
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The road from idea to impact is rarely linear. Prototypes fail, systems break and assumptions change along the way.
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Entrepreneurs who think globally and build for scale from day one create the greatest impact.
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The biggest opportunities often hide in the hardest problems. Entrepreneurs who dare to tackle them can create disproportionate impact.