PM Xavier Bettel at the FinTech Summit at ICT Spring 2019; Credit: Jazmin Campbell

The 2019 edition of the ICT Spring Europe, organised by Farvest, kickstarted on Tuesday morning at the European Convention Centre in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Over 5,000 attendees have registered for this two-day global conference, in which 100+ experts in digital, FinTech and space trends and 500 companies from some 72 countries are participating. The event encompasses three main themes in the form of a FinTech Summit, an AI/Digital Summit and a Space Forum.

One highlight of the first day was Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel’s speech during the FinTech Summit. Greeting the audience in Korean, English, Italian and several other languages, Xavier Bettel emphasised that everyone should feel welcome, regardless of their beliefs or sexual orientation, “in a country where we know difference is not a weakness but a strength”.

Turning to Luxembourg’s position as a “smart nation”, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Communication and the Media, highlighted the role that citizens, companies and the government have played together in bringing the Grand Duchy to the forefront of innovation. He also spoke of the importance of inclusive technology and the need to know how to use digital tools in order to be an informed and active member of society in the 21st century. As well as the opportunities offered by new technologies, Xavier Bettel discussed challenges such as reacting and rectifying less reliable information that can circulate on new communication platforms like social media. Nevertheless, he remained “convinced that digitalisation is not a threat” but rather “an opportunity for all of us”.

In his speech, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel also referred specifically to Luxembourg’s strengths in the areas of FinTech, AI and space innovation. Regarding the country’s position as a FinTech hub, he emphasised the “enormous effort” that has gone into upscaling Luxembourgish citizens. Above all, Xavier Bettel confirmed his desire for a “true digital single market” in the EU, rather than 28 separate regulators. Discussing space, he highlighted that Luxembourg is the biggest satellite operator in the world, joking that “even if you can’t find Luxembourg on the map, it’s much bigger in space”. Finally, the Luxembourg Prime Minister confirmed that artificial intelligence (AI) is welcome in the Grand Duchy, a country that “truly vibrates” with multiculturalism. He concluded with the reminder that technology should always “serve humans, not the other way around”.

Following the Prime Minister’s speech, the first day of ICT Spring 2019 continued with talks on various aspects of FinTech, AI and space by many speakers. These included Luc Julia (Vice President of Innovation & CTO, Samsung Electronics) who discussed the opportunities and limits of current AI techniques, Marcus Willand (Associate Partner at MHP) who spoke about AI in mobility and Shufan Wi (Chair Professor, Executive Dean of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University) and Jean Yves Le Gall (President of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, CNES) who spoke about space development from the perspectives of China and France, respectively.

The two-day event will continue throughout today and tomorrow with various exhibitions, talks and pitching sessions from local and international experts.