Pascale Engel de Abreu, scientist and professor at the University of Luxembourg, shares her journey from practicing child psychology to founding LUMI.
Startup Luxembourg
Pascale Engel de Abreu, a scientist and professor at the University of Luxembourg, shares her journey from practicing child psychology to founding the Societal Impact Company LUMI. She also discusses her views on technology, as well as the challenges and opportunities of balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship.
LUMI is a University of Luxembourg spin-off and a societal impact company of public interest that develops innovative solutions for educational challenges. The Luxembourgish founder, Pascale Engel de Abreu, who is a professor of psychology at the University of Luxembourg, and head of the Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Development Lab, shares how her passion for supporting vulnerable children led her to research how children learn, resulting in tools like the Lala-App, which supports young children on their reading journey.
Pascale Engel de Abreu: I’m from Luxembourg, a trained child psychologist, and a proud mother of two. I work at the University of Luxembourg as a professor in psychology, where I head a research team exploring cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development in children. Additionally, I’m the founder of LUMI, the first societal impact company spin-off from the University of Luxembourg.
PEA: I have always enjoyed working with children and studied developmental psychology in France and the UK. A key moment was when I worked as a psychologist in a children’s orphanage in Bolivia with kids facing extreme poverty and neglect. There, I experienced firsthand the challenges practitioners face in providing effective support. I wanted to better understand how the brain processes information to develop the right tools to help children learn better. This drove me into research. I was curious to understand what goes on in the mind when children learn, how experiences shape this process, and how we can effectively support all children in their development. After that experience, I pursued a PhD in Psychology at the University of York in the UK. I then worked as a postdoc at the University of Oxford, where my research focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the cognitive foundations of language learning and reading. While reading comes easily to many children, it is a significant challenge for others. We aimed to understand why that is and what can be done to help. I also worked at Princeton University in the US, before securing a professorship back in 2013 in my home country, Luxembourg. There, I developed my research group at the University of Luxembourg and continued researching these questions.
PEA: Over the last 15 years, my focus has been on researching how children learn and understanding the cognitive foundations behind learning difficulties. However, I realised that research findings weren´t always effectively reaching the real world, where teachers and parents seek practical solutions rather than theories. So, we began developing tools within university research, including a reading intervention called LALA, which we tested over almost a decade to ensure it was evidence-based. Bringing these tools to the market proved challenging, as this is not typically something universities do directly. I worked extensively with our Office for Partnership, Knowledge and Technology Transfer and the Luxembourg National Research Fund to bridge this gap between science and practice.
This led to founding LUMI, a University of Luxembourg spin-off aimed at translating research into practical applications. I quickly discovered that my vision didn´t fit into the conventional profit-driven business models. The focus of LUMI is on families in vulnerable situation and supporting children in Luxembourg. However, Luxembourg, due to its small size, was deemed commercially nonviable, and I was advised to target other markets. But I struggled with this because I believe research from Luxembourg should also benefit the local community. Many children in Luxembourg face challenges in navigating the complex linguistic school environment. In fact, half of Luxembourg´s children experience difficulties with reading by the age of 9.
I then discovered the relatively new societal impact companies (SIS) legal business framework in Luxembourg, which focuses on social impact rather than profit for shareholders. We were fortunate to be selected for the Touchbase Social Entrepreneurship programme from the Ministry of Labour, leading to the establishment of LUMI as a SIS and its official recognition as of public utility in 2023. We are extremely grateful to the Fondation Juniclair and Fondation Loutsch-Weydert, whose early support was instrumental in launching this impactful initiative.
PEA: The main goal of LUMI is to nurture learning potential and child well-being by connecting science with practice, ensuring university research leads to direct impact, especially for children in vulnerable situations. LUMI develops science-based tools to support learning. One of our key products, the Lala-App, for example, is the result of almost 10 years of research. This app and its approach support children in learning to read through blended learning methods, combining digital tools with traditional materials, such as books and non-digital games. Our latest product, “All Dag e Superheld” aims to support children’s mental health and foster well-being and emotion regulation. This is another focus area of our research at the University of Luxembourg. Child mental health is an increasing significant health and social concern, particularly in post covid times. “All Dag e Superheld” contains resources for practitioners seeking to integrate socio-emotional learning into their practice and for parents to support their child’s emotional development at home.
At LUMI, our goal is to ensure that valuable outputs from research like these don’t vanish after a research project ends. As a societal impact company, we prefer to work with partners like associations, philanthropic organisations, governments, or communes, rather than selling directly to end-users, as this comes at the cost of social impact.
PEA: Educational technology like Lala offers valuable benefits by merging science with learning, ensuring evidence-based methods positively impact the educational system. But there is no inherent magic in any educational app by itself. The true value of high-quality educational apps lies not solely in their digital interface but the methodology behind them and how these tools are used. Effective teaching remains paramount, with software and digital devices serving as a supportive tool. This is why LALA integrates digital learning tools with other educational methods in a blended learning approach. Interestingly, whenever I am asked about LALA and I mention “an app”, the focus usually shifts fully to the app. Yet, the essence of our educational technologies extends far beyond source code and programming; it lies in the practical application of scientific knowledge, the method and approach behind the technology.
When people hear “tech," it often conjures images of Smartphones or AI, emphasizing electronic devices and digital processes. But there is far more to technology than just that. When I’m teaching, I sometimes ask my students to think about the biggest technologies they can imagine. Often, they mention things like the IPhone or the internet. I like to than highlight that books are also remarkable technologies. Books, as tools invented by humans to share and store information, played a significant role in advancing human civilisation and fostering intellectual advancements.
So, being in the technology industry means applying knowledge to solve real-world problems, with or without electronic devices. At LUMI, our focus isn´t solely on app development; rather it's about translating cutting-edge scientific knowledge into tangible solutions that can support children in their development, whether through an app, books, or other innovative methods.
PEA: As I am a scientist, I´ve become accustomed to facing certain challenges as a woman. However, if you were to ask me to pinpoint the most significant challenge, I don’t think it’s being a woman; it’s being a mother. When discussing obstacles with other women scientists or entrepreneurs, the conversation often shifts quickly from gender-related issues towards the unique challenges of balancing career aspirations with the responsibilities of motherhood. I vividly recall a training session on entrepreneurship where we were told, “If you want to be an entrepreneur, forget about friends, sleep, and family.” While mothers are used to handling challenges with little sleep, forgetting about our children is simply not an option. Yet, my journey has been different. Despite the challenges, my family, especially my children have been my greatest source of motivation and inspiration. Their perspective has offered invaluable insights into the products we develop. So, while the road hasn't always been easy, being a mother has helped me approach problems with a fresh outlook and greater determination.
Another challenge I faced was finding peers “like me”. Many networking and training opportunities in the traditional tech startup world seem tailored to a specific type of founder—typically young, male entrepreneurs deeply immersed in the specifics of computing and programming. While this focus has its place, technology encompasses so much more as I mentioned. It took time to connect with other like-minded individuals —women founders with families, and those with a strong commitment to social impact. Winning the Touchbase program was a turning point, as it allowed us to incubate at the Social Business Incubator and connect with a highly diverse group of entrepreneurs passionate about the social and solidarity economy.
PEA: The most rewarding thing for me is when I actually see children, parents or practitioners using the tools that we developed, and when they come to me and say, “This is great, and it’s really helped me and my child.” That’s what I want to see. That´s why I’m in this business.
