The Grand Challengers Podcast

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The Grand Challengers Podcast

Peter Marcus Bach

67 episodes

1 week ago

Fred Jordan, scientist, entrepreneur and co-founder of AlpVision and FinalSpark in Vevey, Switzerland reveals the power of mathematics to us and how he thinks differently when it comes to computing. We dive deep into how he has combined industrial processing and digital watermarking to create anti-counterfeiting technology and uncover the mystery of "Organoid Intelligence", also known as biocomputing - using "the real thing" to compute. What was previously only written in science fiction nove...

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Fred Jordan, scientist, entrepreneur and co-founder of AlpVision and FinalSpark in Vevey, Switzerland reveals the power of mathematics to us and how he thinks differently when it comes to computing. We dive deep into how he has combined industrial processing and digital watermarking to create anti-counterfeiting technology and uncover the mystery of "Organoid Intelligence", also known as biocomputing - using "the real thing" to compute. What was previously only written in science fiction nove...

Show more...

Episodes (20/67)

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#56 - Fred Jordan: The power of mathematics, anti-counterfeiting to "wetware" and how biocomputing will disrupt our future

Fred Jordan, scientist, entrepreneur and co-founder of AlpVision and FinalSpark in Vevey, Switzerland reveals the power of mathematics to us and how he thinks differently when it comes to computing. We dive deep into how he has combined industrial processing and digital watermarking to create anti-counterfeiting technology and uncover the mystery of "Organoid Intelligence", also known as biocomputing - using "the real thing" to compute. What was previously only written in science fiction nove...

1 week ago

2 hours 3 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #10 (FINALE): The long-overdue critical reflection, "backstage pass" and exclusive conversation with AI on AI

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google's NotebookLM is a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its outputs... and...

1 week ago

54 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#55 - Julia K. Dietmar: A new take on “dress to impress” - the intersection of sustainability, fashion, AI and the magic number 30

Julia K. Dietmar, co-founder and CEO of OpenWardrobe in Redwood City, California USA sheds some light on the sustainability of the fashion industry, the issue with overproduction, its environmental impact and how we can shift towards circular economy. Julia has over 20 years of experience in retail tech, having been Chieft Product Officer at Vue.ai and worked in Walmart eCommerce, thredUP and Yahoo. We discuss how she is harnessing the power of AI to create digital wardrobes, promote consciou...

3 weeks ago

1 hour 15 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #9: "Super SUPER tiny plastic dust" explained at three levels of difficulty (feat. Denise Mitrano)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google's NotebookLM is a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its outputs... and...

1 month ago

58 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#54 - Mats Larsson: What it takes for the sustainable energy transition - from electric vehicles to full grid transformation

Mats Larsson, Founder of the Global Energy Transformation (GET) Institute, based in southern Sweden, discusses what it takes to transition to global electrification using sustainable energy. We delve deep into how we can change our oil & gas mobility to more electric vehicles in light of the EU's impending ban on diesel and petrol cars and that it takes more than just technology to create a major paradigm shift. It's not the first time we've embarked on such major transformations in human...

1 month ago

1 hour 5 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#53 - Alma Schellart: Making data open, making models talk and embracing uncertainty to solve 100-year old urban drainage challenges

Alma Schellart, Senior Lecturer in Water and Engineering at the University of Sheffield, England dives into the world of urban drainage, models and uncertainty and shows us how models and data can can make or break trust in the general public and why we need to be careful and meticulous with our use and communication of these. We discuss types of uncertainty that are encountered in infrastruture decisions, the importance and volatility of open data as well as the age-old challenge of managing...

1 month ago

1 hour 34 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#52 - Makoto Kern: Feature-centric to user-centric - UX Design to navigate global challenges and the “AI Competence Mirage”

Makoto Kern, Founder and Principal Design Consultant at iiimpact in Austin Texas USA dives deep into the world of UX (User Experience) Design and shows us how a user-centric approach to software is essential, especially in the disruptive AI landscape. We hear about how he and iiimpact have supported the environmental, resources and healthcare industries, future concerns about cybersecurity and how to navigate the highly disruptive AI landscape, live with AI technology and value the human conn...

2 months ago

1 hour 17 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#51 - Rob Wreglesworth: A culture reboot for nature, biodiversity and conservation through incentives, conversations and T-shirts

Rob Wreglesworth, Associate Ecologist and Innovation Lead at The Environment Bank, Co-Founder of No Longer Known and Host of the Innovate Eco Podcast, based in the UK, goes deep on biodiversity and conservation from both the economic and social lenses. We discuss topics like biodiversity net gain and nature credits, eDNA, current issues with conservation and how Rob is now targeting scarcity mindset with his new startup No Longer Known, a culture reboot, in a sense. T-shirts factor into this ...

2 months ago

1 hour 38 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#50 - Tables Turned: Part 2 - Personal reflections on Switzerland vs. favourite places, academia, nature, music, my career and much more…

To celebrate 50 episodes of The Grand Challengers Podcast (main series), we return with another "Tables Turned" episode, this time featuring 26 questions from guests as early as Episode 2. Guests from across the show got to ask me a question of their choosing and I have compiled them into a special episode titled "Tables Turned". In this episode, I reflect on Switzerland, the importance of music in my life, academia and where I am heading in my recent decision to start my own company. Join me...

3 months ago

1 hour 19 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#49 - Nadja Kunz: Towards water stewardship in mining, understanding critical minerals, safer and sustainable resource management

Nadja Kunz, Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada shares her insights on the role of water in mining and the importance of critical minerals for the sustainable energy transition. Most notably, we gain insights into the complexity of the mining industry and its diverse and often forgotten stakeholders. What is required for us to make mining more sustainable, equitable, safe and future-proof? Podcast Intro/Outro Song...

4 months ago

1 hour 16 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#48 - Christoph Ort: Sewers, Drugs and Rock n' Roll - from wastewater surveillance to saving lives in the pandemic

Christoph Ort, Group Leader and Head of the Urban Water Maangement Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology dives into the world of wastewater surveillance or wastewater-based epidemiology, techniques, intricacies, use-cases and the broader societal implications. We trace his journey in leading a "band" of disciplines in supporting society during a crisis moment, namely the COVID pandemic, with valuable information on the spread of infections - all by just holding a "magnifying...

4 months ago

1 hour 10 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #8: "Broken Telephone" - lost in translation between leapfrogging and Dunkelflaute (feat. Mashael Yazdanie)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

4 months ago

1 hour 16 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#47 - Wei-Shan Chen: Valuing food waste and greening - the experience in delivering technology and tools to close the carbon and water cycles

Wei Shan Chen, also known as "Momo", Assistant Professor at Wageningen University shares his journey from Materials Engineering into the environment, from Taiwan to The Netherlands and from the Carbon Cycle to the Water Cycle. We discuss the issue of food waste and its broader implications among other approaches he has taken to recover carbon and close the loop. We also hear about Momo's foray into Blue-Green Infrastructure planning and how stakeholder engagement has changed his perspective o...

5 months ago

1 hour 17 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #7: The “Tablecloth Problem”, headwaters in focus and the pollution party (feat. Belinda Hatt)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

5 months ago

1 hour 8 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#46 - Mark Swinnerton: Gravity vs. "giant hockey pucks" - what disused mines and renewable energy storage have in common

Mark Swinnerton, CEO of Green Gravity, shares his journey from metallurgy to mining operations and currently gravitational storage technology to support the energy transition. We get an in-depth look into how he is transforming the renewable energy storage industry and giving old mine shafts a new lease on life, an insight into the technology and logistics and how businesses are evolving in this new digital age. Tune in for some amazing advice from someone with decades of global experience in...

6 months ago

1 hour 20 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #6: These are neither the pollutants nor researcher you are looking for (feat. Lena Mutzner)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

6 months ago

56 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#45 - Lena Mutzner: “A list that keeps getting longer” - understanding pollutants of emerging concern for healthier aquatic environments

Lena Mutzner, Group Leader in the Urban Water Management Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology discusses the intricacies of stormwater quality monitoring. We learn a bit about how water quality is sampled, different pollutant types that she has focussed on and the ongoing challenge around contaminants of emerging concern. We also discuss the apparent paradox of repeating research cycles despite having done similar work 40 years ago, the importance of a ...

6 months ago

1 hour 23 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #5: Plot Twist! Figure 3 says more than a thousand words and a third of the hot dogs (feat. Yannick Back)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

7 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#44 - Jarrod Luxton: What does a best-practice sustainability strategy look like? Discussing nature, valuation, Nordic and Aussie contrasts

Jarrod Luxton, Senior Lead at the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra), Board Member of Finland's Sustainable Investment Forum (finsif) and Founder of First Arrow discusses what a best-practice sustainability strategy looks like in 2025! The key player? Nature! We delve into the topic of valuing nature-based solutions and compare and contrast between Australian and Nordic contexts, especially Finland's priorities and motivations for the practice. Jarrod and I also reflect upon our times in Austral...

7 months ago

1 hour 20 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #4: Jalapeños as part of the urban form and a lesson in Dutch (feat. Martijn Kuller)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

8 months ago

1 hour