HRH Prince Guillaume at the launch of this year's Luxembourg Space Finance event in New York; Credit: LSA / N Chan

Thursday 10 November 2022 marked the last day of the Luxembourg delegation's working visit to the United States (US), chaired by His Royal Highness the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg and led jointly by Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Paulette Lenert, and the Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot.

On the agenda for this final day were the launch of a programme dedicated to startups and an event on the financing of the space sector in New York, on the one hand, and a meeting with Kaiser Permanente in Washington, on the other.

The Hereditary Grand Duke and the Economy Minister thus attended a breakfast on Thursday for the official launch of the Benelux Catalyst startup acceleration programme, organised in partnership with the Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce (BelCham) in New York. An internationalisation programme focused on the US, the Benelux Catalyst allows six startups each year (one from Luxembourg − Gamma AR, two from Belgium and three from the Netherlands) to discover the ecosystem of New York, so that they can start to establish commercial contacts there and to check whether their product is suitable for the American market. For two weeks, the selected startups follow an intense programme in New York consisting of workshops, classes and one-on-one sessions on topics such as business development, user interface, fundraising and pitching with local experts, mentors and peers.

Prince Guillaume and Franz Fayot, in his capacity as Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, then visited the United Nations (UN) headquarters where they met with Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN and President of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.

The day continued with the 2022 Luxembourg Space Finance event, organised by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) to celebrate the latest achievements and progress of Luxembourg's space ecosystem. After opening speeches by Prince Guillaume and Minister Fayot, a round table brought together representatives of Orbital Ventures, Redwire, RRE Ventures and Kleos Space to discuss and identify gaps in investment and the challenges faced by companies and investors. The event, which gathered nearly 200 people, also aimed to strengthen the network and cooperation in this sector between Luxembourg and more broadly the European Union (EU) on the one hand and the US on the other.

For her part, Luxembourg's Minister of Health, Paulette Lenert, travelled to Washington by train for an interview with Kaiser Permanente to discuss the integration of new technologies to improve patient care, through a view holistic medicine and data analysis.

The working visit ended with a reception at Luxembourg House, where the offices of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office and the Consulate General of Luxembourg in New York are located.

(L-R) Franz Fayot, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, and Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg at the UN HQ in New York (Credit: © Maison du Grand-Duc)