Artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT, Nvidia — sound familiar? These words have been popping up all over the news and social media in the past year. AI is officially having a moment, and Leiden-based startup Landscape saw it coming a decade ago.
Today, Landscape is transforming how businesses harness the power of artificial intelligence.
As an AI consulting company, they help companies develop smart, tailored AI solutions. But what exactly does this mean? And how did they get started? I sat down with CEO and founder Erwin Haas to find out.
How did Landscape get started?
Landscape wasn’t built with a grand vision right off the bat. In fact, it started as something much simpler: a casual chat between Erwin and a friend.
Wait, what? Yep. Over a decade ago, Erwin and his co-founder “were frustrated by the everyday nuisances in our surroundings, like when a bench broke or a streetlight malfunctioned. We wished we could snap a photo and send it off for repair, no logins or detailed reports required.”
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They toyed with the idea but didn’t act on it. A little while later, a startup made headlines with the same concept. Erwin’s reaction? “That could’ve been us.”
A short while later, Landscape was born. We didn’t have any clients or even a very specific idea, just the philosophy of ‘Okay, we need to do this,’” Erwin remembers. “I knew AI was going to be bigger and bigger,” Erwin says, and he wanted to see how it could revolutionise business.
After chatting with people in the industry, someone reached out and asked if they were still in business. “The next day, we went to the Chamber of Commerce and registered Landscape.”
In this ever-changing field, how do you measure the success of your company and the impact you’re making?
Fast forward to today, Landscape is a full-blown AI consulting company. Erwin explains, “We don’t just build AI models or custom solutions – we help our clients figure out where AI actually adds value for them, both technically and strategically.”
But how do they measure success in such a fast-moving field? Sure, the easiest way would be to see how much money they can save other businesses. However, that’s not what Landscape is all about.
“We take a very human-centered approach,” Erwin says, “of course, efficiency matters, but we also look at impact in ways that are harder to quantify, like making people’s jobs more enjoyable.”
One project in particular stands out. Erwin recalls: “We had a project where a company assigned one employee to “the mailbox” daily — someone who would just assign information to the right mailbox. This was like a full-time job, and it was covered by the entire support team.”
“Nobody liked it, so we were brought in to create a solution that could automatically sort that out. Did it save a lot of time, like money-wise? Maybe not even that much. But it made a big difference in employee satisfaction.”
How has the recent AI interest impacted your business?
With AI plastered all over the news, it’s no surprise that Landscape has been feeling the impact. “We always struggle a bit with the hype,” Erwin smiles.
“While it’s exciting, many people seem to be overwhelmed by possibilities and not always realistic in their expectations.”
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Managing these expectations is part of Landscape’s role — showing companies that while AI can indeed transform their operations, it takes time, careful planning, and a customised approach.
“It’s very cool that you can use ChatGPT for lots of things, but people now expect everything to be solved by an LLM (Large Language Model), instantly. In reality, applying AI to real-world cases takes more than just typing in a prompt.”
Can you recount some pivotal moments or milestones in your journey?
When it comes to career-defining moments, Landscape’s work with Dutch hospitals is a biggie. Erwin explains: “Every patient record in a Dutch hospital used to be manually coded in order to be further processed and have reports go to several organisations. This was all done by hand.”
But that’s where Landscape came in and built a solution to automate much of this work. “We built a federated learning environment,” he explains, “allowing hospitals to share insights without compromising sensitive data. [This solution] reduces 70%-80% of the administrative burden in this specific field.”
“Creating this kind of federated AI solution, with the help of multiple hospitals, has never been done before in this field. We’re quite proud that we got it working, and we’re very happy to see that more and more hospitals are coming on board.”
Where do you see Landscape in 10 years?
As Landscape continues to grow, Erwin envisions a future where they not only consult but also foster innovation.
“I still see Landscape as a consulting company. We like this opportunity to look around companies to see what we can change there. It’s inspiring, and it teaches us a lot in our field.”
“But in ten years, we might also want to co-develop products that arise from our collaborations.”
They’ve already dipped their toes into this with Selectical, a startup focused on AI-assisted literature reviews, which they co-founded with an old client.
“I really like this model,” Erwin says, “where we bring our AI expertise to co-develop projects. I would like to keep moving in that direction.”
One thing is certain: Artificial intelligence is here to stay. And as long as AI continues to evolve, so will Landscape — combining technical know-how with a human touch.
What do you think about Landscape’s journey? Share your thoughts in the comments!
