LuxUnplugged Podcast

Thierry welcomes Barbara Chevalier, CEO at CFL multimodal. In this podcast recording Thierry and Barbara discuss the company's business model, Luxembourg's role as a logistics hub, and the positive impact of rail freight solutions on sustainability, highlighting CFL multimodal's integrated and sustainable approach to multimodal transportation across Europe. Barbara also highlights the commitment of the company on innovation and safety and the investment CFL made in state of the art technology to support their ever growing customer base. 

Adrien welcomes Florian Feltes, co-founder and CEO at Zortify. A staunch academic at heart with deep problem-solving skills, Florian walks Adrien through the process that led him to adopt natural language processing (NLP) as a way to rationalise the decision-making process. At a time when AI is slowly but surely becoming an ubiquitous component of our ways of going about our lives - think of ChatGPT - this highly complementary tool developed by Zortify allows decision-makers to obtain an unbiased view of someone they are looking to hire or invest in. Indeed, Florian highlights a few key examples to illustrate the use cases of this AI-driven process (e.g. aligning employees with a corporate culture through surveys, venture capitalists screening founders who have got the potential to create a unicorn, etc.).
Finally, they discuss the chief reasons why Zortify is leveraging Luxembourg as a hub to source talent and expand their customer reach further afield.

Thierry welcomes Martin Schoonbrodt, Co-Founder at the Probiotic Group. Martin is an entrepreneur that co-founded this very exciting and forward thinking business in 2014 with the vision to take a biotech approach to the cleaning environment. 
Based in the north of Luxembourg and now at the House of Biotech, this forward thinking business dedicates much of their efforts in research and developments of probiotic based products. 

During the conversation Martin explains how the new funding in 2022 happened and what the plans are for the future. 

Thierry and Martin discuss the genesis of the business and how the Luxembourg ecosystem has helped the Probiotic Group in the last few year. 

Adrien welcomes Georges Krombach, Head of Sales and Marketing at the Landewyck Group. A native Luxembourger who spent a chunk of his career in the US, Georges walks Adrien through the history of the Landewyck Group, a tobacco and property business, and how this Luxembourg-based family export business has evolved over time with global players emerging in other key regions. Then they talk about the marketing strategy of firms like his that operate in sensitive industries and how it compares to listed companies that are usually less agile. Intriguingly, and in line with comments from previous guests, Adrien wonders about Luxembourg's industrial policy and why Landewyck decided to erect a production plant in the north of the country knowing that costs are much higher compared to other European countries.    
Finally, Adrien asks Georges to describe the key ingredients that have allowed Landewyck to preserve its DNA over time without causing major disruptions in the family ownership.

Thierry welcomes back Pierre Thein, Director at the Hein Group, to the show. In this follow up episode, Thierry and Pierre cover the last 18 months since our first podcast recording.  During the conversation, Pierre explains to our listeners how the company overcame key challenges and adapted to the new working environment. Pierre has been with the company over two decades and the Hein Group as the company became a champion of "Made in Luxembourg". 
At the end of the episode Pierre briefly highlights a few key achievements from the last two years and of course Pierre gives us a brief outlook on his plans for the future. 

In this 7th installment of the Dark Matter uncovered series, Thierry discusses with Mahulena Hofmann the importance of the general space law in Luxembourg.
In the conversation Mahulena also sheds light on to the importance of the International Institute of Space Law and what impact Luxembourg has in the UN COPUS (United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space). 

Adding value is the key - This episode is sponsored by the Cluster for Logistics Luxembourg.
Adrien welcomes Stavros Evangelakakis, chairman of the Cool Chain Association. An aviation lover, Stavros walks Adrien through his three-decade long career at Cargolux, a leading cargo airfreight company based in Luxembourg (and well known to us as its CEO, Richard Forson, appeared on the show when this podcast first launched), where he's now focussing on the healthcare part of the logistics business.
Then they talk about his chairman role at the non-profit Cool Chain Association (CCA) which he co-founded back in 2002. Discussing the CCA's relentless mission to improve processes and global standards in the perishable goods and pharmaceutical products spaces, he highlights key examples that illustrate the fruits of the collaboration between its members and the association.
Finally, Adrien asks him why prospects should join the CCA if they want more insights into best practices linked to transporting temperature-controlled goods.

In this 6th installment of the Dark Matter uncovered series, Thierry discusses with Kathryn Hadler the core mission of ESRIC (European Space Resources Innovation Centre) and why Luxembourg is a hub for space talent. Kathryn also highlights why Mineral processing is so important in the context of space.

Claudia Hitaj and Adrien Loesch welcome Georges Bock, Founder and CEO of Moniflo, a FinTech-start-up aiming to redefine trading and investment for retail customers by creating a peer to peer investment platform with a strong ESG focus. Georges talks about his experience at KPMG, why he decided to develop Moniflo, and why he thinks it's important young people start investing early and in an impactful way. He also talks about how blockchain technology has evolved and how new, low-carbon blockchain technology helps Moniflo secure transactions and keep costs down. Have a listen to learn more about Moniflo and what it means for new developments in sustainable finance and FinTech.

Adding value is the key - This episode is sponsored by the Cluster for Logistics Luxembourg.
Adrien welcomes Philippe Hemard, supply chain expert and former vice president at Amazon Logistics Europe. A former veteran at Amazon, Philippe spent 17 years of his career at Amazon where he experienced the very implementation of their logistics strategy in Europe. He explains in greater detail why logistics is integral part of Amazon's success as an ecommerce business.
Then they discuss the key lessons from the covid-19 pandemic and the more recent war in Ukraine. Both have materially disrupted the way companies with global supply chains manage their logistical dependencies, with important changes now altering the unhindered globalisation trend that has prevailed since the end of the Cold War.
A teacher at the University of Luxembourg, Philippe highlights the key attributes of the Master's degree in logistics and supply chain management, and what kind of candidates should apply for this type of academic programme.