Alumni CYEL 2023 Finalists - Saif Hassani and LuxGeospatial

Saif Hassani just recently finished his Master's in Civil Engineering - Megastructure Engineering with Sustainable Resources at the University of Luxembourg. He is the founder and CEO of the startup LuxGeospatial and a finalist and a finalist for this year’s Creative Young Entrepreneur Luxembourg (CYEL) award.

LuxGeospatial contributes to the global shift towards innovative geospatial solutions for a smarter, more sustainable world. They analyze satellite and drone data to offer vital insights for informed global decision-making. We spoke to Saif to find out why he became an entrepreneur and how his startup gets us closer to the future where geospatial excellence drives worldwide sustainability.

What part did the University play in your decision to become an entrepreneur?

During my studies at the University of Luxembourg, I met my team and we created LuxGeospatial together. It was an incredible journey. I learned a lot from my studies at the University but also through my student job there which was related to satellites. This is where our company came from.

What is your experience of running your own business in Luxembourg?

When I came to Luxembourg, it was to learn and get the degree. There are a lot of people that come with the mentality of getting the diploma and having a job as they learn about Luxembourg’s high salaries, etc. I never had this mentality, I always pushed so hard to do the thing that I want. Of course, it is a little bit more challenging because because the job will give you a very stable salary, while with a company if you do not earn money, you do not get paid. It is a journey. You go up, you go down, it is hard. It is not easy at all. But this is something that I chose and it’s worth it in terms of what you learn and in terms of what you will be able to do. At the end of the day, when you work for a company, you will work for the position you are hired for but when you work for your company, you will become your own lawyer, your own accountant, project manager... You will develop all the different skills that are very important. It is hard, but it is worth it.

What does LuxGeospatial do?

LuxGeospatial is not totally civil engineering. We started this company with the goal to analyse data from satellites and drones to give insights to companies, to governments and people that are interested in such information. At the moment, we provide services like Geographic Information System (GIS) Solutions, Digital Modeling​ and Precision Agriculture.

_{CYEL’s 2023 Finalists (© CYEL)}

What things that you learned during your time at Uni.lu do you use in your business?

Probably the biggest thing that my study programme has given me is the the ability to solve problems and this skill is very rare and very hard to to learn. It is even less simple in the field of civil engineering, especially in megastructure when you are dealing with very big buildings, and you have to split this problem into sub-problems and try to solve each one of them in a scientific method.

The second thing is that there is a big portion of the programme which is dedicated to the surveying and the use of technologies, drones and so on. We took some things we learned there, and we are using them in the company right now.

Plus, of course, my student job helped in the data analysis, the photogrammetry, all this side of business. Without the knowledge and skills from the University, it would not be possible for me to start my company.

What would you like your company to achieve in the future?

It is a research and development company so our biggest goal is to collaborate with the research organisations in Luxembourg and try to move the whole industry towards sustainable solutions for cities, for Luxembourg as a whole and even for other countries around the world.

Our biggest mission is for this technology to be for everybody and not just exclusively for big countries and big organisations. We want to be more democratic and we cannot do this alone. We want to have a strong partnership with the institutions in the industry.