Respondents were asked where their companies were in incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Respondents who identified their organization as “approaching the goal” or having “achieved the goal” are considered AI leaders.

Respondents were asked, “How effective would you say your company or organization is at leveraging data?” Those who responded with “very effective” on a 4-point scale are referred to as data-effective companies. This is 19% of respondents.

Respondents were asked how far their companies were in their transformation journeys. Respondents who described their organization as “early stage” or “right in the middle” of their digital transformation journeys are considered less digitally mature companies. Those who responded “approaching the goal” or having “achieved the goal” of digital transformation are considered more digitally mature companies. Of 2025 State of Design & Make respondents, 2,784, or 50%, are digitally mature.

Architecture, engineering, construction, and operations

• Architecture services 

• Building owners (i.e., developers, real estate companies, governments) 

• Civil infrastructure owners (e.g., transportation infrastructure, water infrastructure) 

• Construction services  

• Engineering service providers 

• Mining 

• Oil and gas

• Utilities and telecom 

Design and manufacturing

• Aerospace and defense equipment 

• Automotive, mobility, and other transportation (including supply chain) 

• Building products and fabrication 

• Consumer products 

• Industrial machinery 

• Life sciences manufacturing 

• Process manufacturing

Media and entertainment

• Advertising, publishing, and graphic design

• Film and TV

• Games

• Leaders: Sixty-eight percent of survey participants are decision-makers in their companies. In this report, this group is referred to as leaders. Job roles for the leaders group include business owner/entrepreneurs, directors, and VP- and C-level executives. 

• Experts: The remaining 32% of respondents are referred to as experts. This group includes respondents at the nonmanagerial level and managers.

• APAC: Asia-Pacific

  • Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea

• EMEA: Europe, Middle East, and Africa

  • France; Germany; Italy; Middle East (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates); Netherlands; Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden); Spain; Turkey; United Kingdom 

• AMER: North, Central, and South America

  • Brazil, Canada, Mexico, United States

The survey questions about sustainability, for example, in the list of changes companies are making, focus on environmental sustainability; however, this definition was not explicitly stated.
 

In one-on-one interviews, a descriptive definition was used incorporating the United Nations definition: “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Respondents were told this includes efforts related to the environment (mitigating the effect on climate change); the community (social well-being, improving the life of populations); and corporate governance.