Artificial intelligence: 6 in 10 Belgian technology companies still stuck at testing stage

On 30 September 2026, Agoria, the Belgian technology industry federation, published its annual report on AI adoption among Belgian technology companies. Of the 307 business leaders surveyed, six in ten remain at the testing stage, and 85% report no effect yet on their revenue. For a Belgian company betting on AI in its marketing, that figure is a direct warning: testing a tool is not enough to get a result from it.

1. Adoption is rising, but still fragile

According to the 'Make AI Work' study, published by Agoria on 30 September 2026, 37% of Belgian technology companies now integrate AI into their processes, up from 27% a year earlier. The survey, conducted among 307 business leaders, also shows that only 6% have made AI a genuinely embedded part of their activity.

Six in ten companies remain 'experimenters', testing tools without anchoring them in their processes, and 38% still make no structured investment at all, a sharp drop from 55% the year before.

2. 85% of companies see no effect on their revenue

Agoria puts the additional revenue generated by companies that have structured their use of AI at 3 billion euros. But the large majority, 85% according to the study, report no measurable impact on revenue today.

For Bart Steukers, Agoria's CEO, quoted by La Libre and VRT NWS, Belgium 'excels at testing' but struggles to scale the trial to company level. The risk, he says, is being overtaken by countries that move faster from experimentation to industrialisation.

3. What this means for a Belgian company's marketing

A chatbot tried once on a website, an ad visual generator used a single time, an assistant drafting briefs with nobody tracking the results: these are exactly the uses the Agoria study calls experimentation. They produce no business result as long as they stay isolated from human decision and follow-up.

The difference between a company that gains revenue from AI and one that sees no effect at all is not the tool, it is the governance: who decides the use case, who measures the result, who adjusts it.

4. An uncertain economy still holding back investment

The study notes that economic uncertainty weighs on the investment capacity of Belgian technology companies, which partly explains why 38% still have no structured AI approach. The impact on employment remains limited: between 80 and 100 net jobs have disappeared in the sector because of AI, according to Agoria.

The AI lens, humans first

In a company, AI can already draft an ad copy outline, sort leads or answer a customer's first questions on WhatsApp. What the Agoria study shows is that this execution only creates value if a person decides which use case to pursue, sets the indicator to track, and steps in when the tool strays off course. AI executes. Expertise decides, and keeps watch.