Marc Hansen, Minister Delegate for Digitalisation; Credit: Jazmin Campbell

This year’s Luxembourg Internet Days, organised by LU-CIX, took place on 12 and 13 November 2019 at the Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

For its sixth edition, Luxembourg Internet Days dedicated one day (Tuesday) to network and cloud security and another (Wednesday) to digitalisation and e-commerce.

Speeches and presentations were namely delivered in English (with simultaneous translation into French) on the first day and in French (with simultaneous translation into English) on the second day, a decision that coincided with LU-CIX’s having chosen France as the event’s partner country this year. Explaining the choice of France, LU- CIX Chairman Marco Houwen highlighted the strong links between the two countries. He added that the decision was partly taken as a result of the “Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspaces” back in November 2018.

A number of high-profile guest speakers attended this year’s event, including Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who opened the event on Tuesday, Marc Hansen, Minister Delegate for Digitalisation, and Mounir Mahjoubi, former French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs. 

In his insight speech, Marc Hansen highlighted the efforts being made by Luxembourg's Ministry for Digitalisation in the digital transition process. He gave the example of Luxembourg's e-embassy as an area of innovation. Minister Hansen also emphasised the need to develop the digital skills of the population whilst providing both individuals and companies with digital services that are easy-to-use, innovative and accessible to all.

In addition, Minister Hansen recalled that a connected world requires new attitudes and strengthened soft skills, before adding that: "The authorities, the institutions, too, must reduce the bureaucratic aspects to gain agility". He concluded that one of the biggest challenges in the digital transformation process is to ensure it benefits everyone in society.

Marc Hansen's speech was followed by a keynote speech by Mounir Mahjoubi, who was in charge of digitalisation in France until March 2019. In his speech, Mr. Mahjoubi similarly highlighted the need for all actors in society to work together to make digital transformation a success. Looking particularly at the French context, he recalled that it is not enough for Paris alone to advance in the digital sector, but the whole territory needs to advance, too. The former Secretary of State for Digital Affairs added that whilst big companies and start-ups are perhaps seen as most likely to directly benefit from digitalisation, companies need to take the time to train and invest in their employees and partners in order to avoid job losses and advance the digitalisation process. Only then can "digitalisation [...] truly be an accelerator".

Like Minister Hansen, Mr. Mahjoubi also emphasised the need to involve civil servants and administrations in the process in order to "advance together". He also spoke briefly about the difference of opinion that exists between France and Luxembourg on the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which the former sees as something that can advance rather than prevent this transition. Mounir Mahjoubi concluded that the two countries would and should continue to collaborate in this sector with events such as the Luxembourg Internet Days.

On the sidelines of this event, Marc Hansen and Mounir Mahjoubi met to discuss the Luxembourg Government's approach to digitalisation, particularly the progress made since their last meeting in Paris in March. In this context, Marc Hansen reiterated his committment to pushing the digitalisation of the Luxembourg State. He also mentioned the creation of a Digital Academy, currently in preparation, which aims to develop the digital skills of state officials in order to make state entities an engine of the digital transformation of Luxembourg. Finally, Minister Hansen presented the efforts of the Ministry of Digitalisation in the field of eGovernment, particularly with regard to the widening of the offer in administrative procedures as well as features aimed at making life easier for citizens and companies.