The POD - Place of Digital

50 people in the room, a few online, and 3 speakers who broke down what AI can really do when it understands your context. Here’s a quick recap of our (sold-out 🙃) event. On Wednesday evening at OpenHub, The POD - Place of Digital brought together a tech2tech community around one simple but crucial question: 🙋♂️ “Why is your AI giving inconsistent answers? And how can you teach it to do better?” What we covered: ✅ How RAG (retrieval augmented generation) works ✅ Why embeddings and vectorization matter ✅ Real-world implementation use cases (engineering, helpdesk, legal, local government) ✅ The limits of general-purpose models… and the power of your own data 🤖 Plus a look at what’s next: knowledge graphs, AI agents, and LCMs (large concept models) A few quotes that stood out: “A RAG is like ctrl+f, but way smarter.” “General-purpose models don’t know your data… but you do.” 🎙 With Vincent Boucher (B12 Consulting), Simon Legendre (Troople), and Nicolas Bioul (OpenHub/ TRAIL - Trusted AI Labs) 📍 At OpenHub 🍷 And networking to wrap up the evening, a great opportunity to connect the BW ecosystem (and beyond!) 🎥 Missed the event? No worries! The replay is available on Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gCkyAg8H. More sessions are coming. Want to join next time? Follow our page on LinkedIn! And if you were there, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments 👇 #ai #rag #opensource #data #llm #knowledgegraph #agents #lcm #wallonia #knowledgeispower #thepodbw Audric Mitraros Margaux Evenepoel

⚠️ Going international is a big opportunity… and a real challenge. When a Belgian company like TELEMIS, profitable for over 20 years, decides to share everything, the wins and the mistakes, you pay attention. 📅 On April 22, join us in Louvain-la-Neuve for an exclusive Lunch & Learn with Patrice Roulive, SVP Sales & Co-Founder of Telemis. Here’s what you’ll get: ✅ The strategies that helped Telemis expand to 10+ countries ❌ The mistakes that almost cost them dearly 💡 Key lessons for any leader thinking about global growth A few words about Telemis: Founded in 1999 as a spin-off from UCLouvain - Université catholique de Louvain, Telemis has become a leading player in medical imaging management, with solutions used in 455 hospitals and clinics across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Their steady growth combines strategic partnerships, acquisitions, and now, the integration of AI-powered solutions to optimize medical data flows. Practical information: 📍 At their offices in Louvain-la-Neuve 🗣 Session in English 🍽 Grab a sandwich and join the conversation (lunch is served during the talk). 🎟️ Register now: https://lu.ma/u0k521vi. Seats are limited to keep the discussion open, personal, and interactive. Hope to see many of us! #startupgrowth #internationalisation #medicaltech #brabantwallon #thepod #lln Bernard Hansen Nicolas Brixko

⏳ Last days to apply for Alumnior, organized by our friends at OpenHub! Graduates of École polytechnique de Louvain - Louvain School of Engineering, don't miss this opportunity to accelerate your tech project: ✅ 5 intensive days ✅ Entrepreneurial mindset ✅ Market & customer validation ✅ MVP structuring ✅ Digital marketing strategy ✅ Pitching, financial planning, and fundraising More info and registration before April 4: 👉 https://lnkd.in/e79gUyrG. #alumnior #startup #tech #entrepreneurship #brabantWallon #openHub #pod Amin Shabani

🎟️ Sold out! Our April 2nd event is now fully booked, thank you all for your enthusiasm! But why such excitement? Because as fascinating as AI is, it's not flawless. How many times has your AI given you a completely off-the-mark answer? 👉 This phenomenon has a name: hallucination. And that’s exactly what we’ll be exploring, but more importantly, we’ll dive into concrete solutions available today to tackle this issue. 📅 Tomorrow evening at OpenHub, we’ll dive into RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), a method that allows AI to provide reliable answers based on your own documents, without the need for complex retraining. Together, Vincent Boucher (B12 Consulting), Simon Legendre (Troople), and Nicolas Bioul (OpenHub / TRAIL - Trusted AI Labs) will share: ✅ Real-world use cases from companies in Wallonia ✅ Key insights on how to apply these technologies strategically ✅ Opportunities for discussion to move forward on your own AI challenges 🙋♂️ Still hoping to join us? Sign up for our waiting list: https://lu.ma/yatk0n3d. If a spot opens up, we’ll reach out to you first! We’re excited to see you there. See you tomorrow! #ai #data #rag #event #thepod #louvainlaneuve #tech

🤖 Talking to AI is an art, and some have truly mastered it! At the upcoming Mind and Market Forum Louvain-la-Neuve 2025, a brand-new activity is being launched: the AI Prompt Club, co-organised by The POD - Place of Digital. A team of experienced prompt engineers will help project leaders test and improve their ideas using tailored AI agents. A concrete way to explore how AI can support strategy, storytelling, market positioning, customer targeting, and more. 🗣️ Meet the experts: Adrien Bock – Acadys Captain AI 🚀 Stéphane Peeters – Captain AI Academy Emilie Lessire – Elyxire / GalaxyIA Jean-François Culot – REVOLia Alex Ditte– Crazy AI Justin Loroy – Nacho Vincent BECKER – AI Academy Belgium 📍 April 15th at Aula Magna, Louvain-la-Neuve 🕐 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Project leaders will have the opportunity to interact with AI agents, receive actionable feedback, and vote for the most effective agent at the end of the session. 🔗 Registration: https://lnkd.in/e9D_vCiy. #AI #promptengineering #startupsupport #ThePOD #aigen Rachel Tonglet Martin N.

📚 AI & education: revolution, opportunity, or threat? Members of our local innovation ecosystem, AILouvain - Alumni Ingénieurs Louvain, in collaboration with Kap IT (Kap Tech), are hosting a thought provoking conference on Monday, April 1st at 6:30 PM at the Aula Magna in Louvain-la-Neuve. 🤖 Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world of education, from teaching methods to learning outcomes and future jobs. But how can we embrace this transformation while preserving what matters most? The event (in French) will feature real-world insights, expert perspectives, and interactive discussions on the challenges and opportunities AI brings to the classroom and beyond. 🔗 Info & registration: https://lnkd.in/gX9snaBc. The POD is proud to support this local initiative that reflects our mission: connect, inspire, transform! #ai #education #kaptech #AILouvain #thepod #louvainlaneuve #brabantwallon #conference #digitaltransformation Thomas Delire Yves Deville Sandrine Decamps @Steve tumon

🎯 Last chance to register for our upcoming event on AI, data, and more specifically, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)! 🗓️ A cutting-edge topic presented with a practical and accessible approach. We’re thrilled to have Nicolas Bioul as the moderator of the event. He is the Corporate Outreach Officer at TRAIL - Trusted AI Labs, a Walloon AI research consortium, and Coordinator of OpenHub, the creative hub at UCLouvain. 🔍 Why should you attend? “In a given context, a word can have multiple meanings. For a LLM, it's difficult to pick the right one. But for a LCM, it’s obvious.” — Nicolas Bioul 🎙️ To wrap up the event, Nicolas will share key insights on: - The evolution toward GraphRAG, combining knowledge graphs with AI models, - And the upcoming game-changer: LCMs (Large Concept Models) — introducing a new level of abstraction and performance in AI. ✨ The event will also feature Simon Legendre (Troople)and Vincent Boucher (B12 Consulting), who will join Nicolas Bioul in offering strategic insights and forward-looking reflections on how to meaningfully adopt these technologies in real-world settings. This workshop is designed to bring together diverse perspectives: AI experts, researchers, academics, business leaders, and curious minds. The goal? To explore emerging technologies, understand their potential, and make smarter decisions for your projects and teams. 📌 Full program & registration here 👉 https://lu.ma/yatk0n3d. #event #rag #thepod #ai #data #louvainlaneuve #tech #llm #business

🔔 It’s official: a 10,000 m² building will rise in the heart of Louvain-la-Neuve, right above the railway tracks! This future Digital District will bring together over 450 companies and become a central hub for the digital ecosystem in Walloon Brabant. At The POD - Place of Digital, we’re proud to be part of this bold step forward. Since the beginning, we’ve been actively connecting and supporting a vibrant community of: – Tech companies (startups, scale-ups, digital SMEs) – Organizations undergoing digital transformation – Key ecosystem players in education, research, funding and support The project, led by UCLouvain - Université catholique de Louvain and invest.bw, is designed to welcome, connect and grow all these players in one inspiring place. 🎯 First milestone: in October 2025, a temporary version, the Groundpod, will open its doors in a 2,100 m² building in the Louvain-la-Neuve science park. 📆 If all goes well, the main building will follow, with construction starting after the permit request is submitted at the end of 2025, and an opening expected in 2028. As Xavier Bocquet, CEO of invest.bw and financial driver of the project, puts it:"Unlike others, we already have the ecosystem, but we don’t yet have the showcase." He adds: "Over 40% of Wallonia’s digital startups are born in Walloon Brabant. Our potential is huge, and this project makes perfect sense—especially in such fertile ground. We need an iconic place to meet, exchange, and collaborate." As Anne Cambier, CEO of The POD - Place of Digital, explains: "It’s clear that the real kickoff will happen once we have this showcase, this space that will serve as a totem. But we need to prepare the ground until then, and that’s exactly what we’re already doing. Walloon Brabant is full of top-tier digital players, but they don’t interact enough. Our goal is to provide a framework that enables them to add real value to this ecosystem—whether through simple exchanges, synergies, or even collaborations." Brabant Wallon may not have an established digital hub, yet. But with 40% of its startups in tech and a thriving ecosystem, this project is the missing piece to bring it all together. And we are thrilled to be part of it! 📎 Read the full article in L’Echo (in French): https://lnkd.in/gm9uaHUv. 📩 Interested in knowing more or getting involved? Reach us at hello@podbw.be. #louvainlaneuve #brabantwallon #thepod #innovation #digital #ecosystem #tech Anne Cambier Bernard Hansen Audric Mitraros Margaux Evenepoel Xavier Attout Nicolas Brixko BW2030 UCLouvain - Université catholique de Louvain Agoria TELEMIS Euranova N-SIDE IBA MCG Sirris | Innovation forward Digital Wallonia Wallonie Entreprendre

🎯 Going international: what mistakes to avoid and what best practices to follow? On April 22 in Louvain-la-Neuve, join us for an exclusive Lunch & Learn with TELEMIS, a medtech gem founded in 1999 as a spin-off from UCLouvain - Université catholique de Louvain. 🌍 Now active in 10+ countries and used in 455 hospitals across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Telemis has turned academic innovation into international success. But the road was not without its share of challenges. 🎙️ Patrice Roulive, Co-Founder & SVP Sales & Marketing, will openly share key decisions, lessons learned, successes, and the missteps that shaped the journey. 📍 This event is part of the Lunch & Learn series by The POD, the digital hub of Brabant Wallon. Our mission? Support, connect and grow the local tech/digital ecosystem. A smart and friendly format designed for decision-makers—right over your lunch break 😉 🎥 In this short video, our colleague Nicolas Brixko shares why this session is worth attending. 👉 Free registration (limited seats): https://lu.ma/u0k521vi. #internationalisation #thepod #event #brabantwallon #entrepreneurship #scaleup #businessdevelopment #medtech #lessonslearned #lln #leadership Anne Cambier Bernard Hansen Audric Mitraros Margaux Evenepoel Juliette Ristovski

How many times has your AI given you a completely off-the-mark answer?Frustrating, right? Especially when you’re in a rush or relying on it to make important decisions. 👉 This issue has a name: hallucination. Yes, AIs can simply… make things up. So, how do we avoid that? 📅 On Wednesday, April 2nd at OpenHub, Vincent Boucher, co-founder of B12 Consulting, will share how companies in Wallonia are already using practical tools to harness AI — without falling into the hallucination trap. We’ll talk about RAG, an approach that allows AI to answer accurately based on your documents, without the need for retraining. Why join us? ✅ Real-world examples of AI technologies already in use ✅ Discussions with the experts implementing them ✅ The chance to connect with others facing similar AI challenges Join us, ask your questions… and discover new solutions and technologies! 😉 This event will also feature Simon Legendre (Troople) and Nicolas Bioul (OpenHub / TRAIL - Trusted AI Labs), who will share their perspectives on how to strategically apply these technologies in real-world settings. 🔗 D-8! Subscribe before it's too late! Registration link is in the comments below 👇 #thepod #event #LLN #rag #ai #technology Audric Mitraros Margaux Evenepoel Juliette Ristovski