fDi Podcast

This week, we travel up from Bilbao to Arles in Provence, France, where the Luma Arles Tower was unveiled over the summer. Luma Arles itself spans art, design, performance, research and ecology and sits on a defunct rail yard site. Like Bilbao’s Guggenheim, the centrepiece for the $175m multi-disciplinary arts complex was designed by American architect Frank Gehry.

Maja Hoffmann, founder and president of the Luma Foundation, tells fDi how Luma Arles looks to create more of a “Luma effect” rather than the “Bilbao effect” as it implants itself locally before addressing its global audience.

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The Bilbao Effect is a term bandied around to describe how a cultural institution can reignite the local economy of a disaffected city or area. In this new podcast series, we want to look closely at different case studies to understand how culture can provide a boost to urban development. 

Juan Ignacio Vidarte, director general of the Guggenheim Bilbao, talks to fDi’s Seth O’Farrell to delve beneath the myths of the Basque city’s transformation and assess whether its world renowned effects can be replicated. 

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Fast growing companies relocate their headquarters for many reasons, and GetYourGuide is no different. After being founded in Zurich in 2009, the experience booking platform decided to move their main office to Berlin in 2018, aiming to leverage the city’s growing start-up expertise and appeal to tech talent.

Tao Tao, GetYourGuide’s co-founder and chief operating officer, joined fDi’s regular start-up podcast to discuss tourism trends during the pandemic and what has made Germany’s capital such a successful tech hub. Listeners can expect to learn more about GetYourGuide’s journey, the funding landscape in Berlin and what needs to change to ensure the city stays competitive in the global war for talent.

The Tourism Investment Report 2021 referenced in this episode can be found here. This episode was recorded on July 21.

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An explosion in the popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been a boon for trading platforms this year, with Vienna-based Bitpanda among them.

Having ridden a wave of retail investor interest in digital assets, crypto trading platform Bitpanda became Austria’s first “unicorn” – private company valued at above $1bn – after its Series B funding round in March, bringing global attention to Vienna’s growing start-up scene.

Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, Bitpanda’s chief product officer, joined fDi’s regular start-up podcast series to discuss the crypto craze and the reality of scaling a business in Vienna. Listeners can expect discussion of topics ranging from Vienna’s appeal as a city, the challenges of attracting talent and nascent knowledge exchange in the ecosystem.

On August 17, Bitpanda raised $263m in its Series C funding round at a valuation of $4.1bn. This episode was recorded on June 29 before this latest funding round.

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Co-hosts Yessi and Alex wrap up season one of the podcast

To conclude their virtual tour of UK tech communities, co-hosts Yessi and Alex give their take on the current state of the UK's start-up scene, summarising the six ecosystems featured so far.

Yessi and Alex discuss topics such as the humility of entrepreneurs and affordability of cities outside London, the later stage funding gap, mental health and more.

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fDi speaks to Stephanie Locke and Neil Cocker about the start-up community in Cardiff.

In this seventh episode, co-hosts Alex Irwin-Hunt and Yessi Bello Perez head to Cardiff in Wales to find out what's happening with entrepreneurship on the ground. 

Joining the show to provide their candid take on Cardiff's start-up ecosystem are Neil Cocker, the co-founder of local tech community Cardiff Start and CEO of Ramp, a business that's changing how people buy t-shirts for events and teams; and Stephanie Locke, the CEO of Nightingale HQ, which provides businesses with expert support and tools to manage the successful adoption of AI.

Listeners can expect a frank discussion of topics ranging from the cost advantages of starting a business in Cardiff, an overview of the Welsh government's support, the city's startup fabric, and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the ecosystem. 

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Min Ye, associate professor of international relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, Min Ye talks to fDi's Seth O'Farrell about how China’s economic policy was born of crisis, not desire for control.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the economic development strategy adopted in 2013, has undergone various permutations in Chinese and global imaginaries alike. Far from aligning with the view that it is the expression of a one-party state looking to dominate the region, Ms Ye examines the BRI from a domestic perspective in her recently published The Belt Road and Beyond: State mobilised globalisation in China, 1998–2018.

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In part two of the sixth episode exploring the entrepreneurial landscape of UK cities, co-hosts Alex Irwin-Hunt and Yessi Bello Perez continue their remote journey to Belfast.

Featuring the same two guests as part one – Belfast City Council' digital innovation commissioner Jayne Brady, and Henry Joseph-Grant, a serial entrepreneur and start-up mentor – this digs deeper into some of the challenges and opportunities in Northern Ireland's start-up community.

Listeners can expect a candid conversation about the misconceptions and perils of raising venture capital funding, why marketing the success of Belfast's ecosystem is the next key step and the potential downsides of competition for talent between start-ups and foreign companies.

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In part one of the sixth episode exploring the entrepreneurial landscape of UK cities, co-hosts Alex Irwin-Hunt and Yessi Bello Perez travel remotely to Belfast.

Joining the show are two guests born in Northern Ireland, who discuss why they both returned home after years of diverse work experience abroad in multinationals, venture capital and start-ups.

Jayne Brady, who is the digital innovation commissioner at Belfast City Council, discusses how policy and major development projects are aiming to push the ecosystem to the next level. Henry Joseph-Grant, who is a serial entrepreneur and start-up mentor, gives a candid perspective on Belfast’s pros and cons, and why he believes it’s now a good place to start and grow a business.

Listeners can expect an open discussion of Belfast's critical mass in the cyber security and services sectors, the issue of ‘brain drain’, how start-ups are being used to heal the wounds of the Troubles, and much, much more.

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