Enabling companies to revitalise their business through innovation is at the core of Luxinnovation’s activities; it supports companies in the development of new products and services and provide guidance on improving productivity or gaining a foothold in international markets.
Thanks to several flagship projects managed by its Cluster Initiative as well as other actions, the National Agency for Innovation and Research in 2015 helped Luxembourg companies strengthen their competitiveness and provided high-quality support to both start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“By giving us common goals, Fit for Innovation has made us a stronger team,” said André Reuter, Managing Partner of Polygone s.à r.l. The Fit for Innovation programme has proven its mettle with SMEs by helping them strengthen their innovation capabilities and improve their performance. Fifteen new companies joined the programme during 2015, its second year of operation.
Finding the right way forward
October 2015 saw the launch of the pilot edition of Fit for Start, a brand new programme that allows ICT start-ups to develop their products, acquire their first clients and speed up growth. The programme offers 16 weeks of coaching to participating start-ups during which time they will assess whether they are on track or need to change direction to achieve their goal. Obtaining adequate funding is often a challenge for such start-ups and other innovative companies.
Fit for Start offers a public grant of €50,000 to participants who need to match it with a private contribution of €10,000. Luxinnovation actively guides Luxembourg organisations to the most suitable national or European R&D and innovation aid measures and helps them draft successful applications. The Ministry of the Economy approved 86 aid applications under both the RDI (research, development and innovation) and the environmental protection law in 2015, most of which were prepared with Luxinnovation support. The Agency also coached European applications in its role as national contact point for Horizon 2020 and the programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2015, Luxembourg applicants obtained €17.7 million of Horizon 2020 funding and €6.7 million of ESA funding.
Towards new horizons
By focusing its efforts on innovation that addresses national priorities, Luxinnovation seeks to facilitate partnerships between industry players and research and technology organisations. In 2015, the Clusters managed by the Agency played a key role in promoting several flagship projects that are prone to producing a highly favourable impact on the country’s economic performance, most notably the National Composite Centre – Luxembourg, the High-Performance Computing project as wells as the future Luxembourg Automotive Campus.
New challenges also lie ahead for the Agency whose mission stands to be considerably enlarged in the near future with stepped-up efforts to promote “Innovative Luxembourg” abroad. To quote Luxinnovation’s Chairman Raymond Schadeck: “The status quo is not an option — neither for the businesses we serve and support nor for us.”
