Grand Duke among 500 Guests at Luxinnovation's 35th Anniversary Celebration

On Thursday, Luxinnovation, the national agency for the promotion of innovation, celebrated its 35th anniversary at the Athénée de Luxembourg, in the presence of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke; almost 500 guests attended the anniversary event.

Luxinnovation was created on 1 June 1984, with the establishment of an "Agency for the Promotion of Innovation" within the Economic Department of the Ministry of the Economy and Small and Medium-sized Businesses. This was followed by a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Luxembourgish Industrials (Fedil) to create "a joint promotion service to support innovation". 

Via this path, Luxinnovation, became the first "innovation and research entry point" in Luxembourg. The Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (then responsible for research policy in the public sector, since then taken over by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research) and later the Chamber of Skilled Crafts subsequently joined the partnership. 

The year 1998 marked a milestone in the development of Luxinnovation, which took on its own legal form as an economic interest group EIG). The agency then expanded further and was entrusted with the management of the "Cluster Initiative", covering the key sectors of the national economy, all with an increasingly strong ICT cross-sector component. To date, more than 700 companies are grouped together in this Cluster Initiative. Luxinnovation has also become the national contact point for companies wishing to integrate European R&D programmes.

In 2016, following the integration of the Luxembourg for Business agency, Luxinnovation was assigned additional tasks as part of the reform of Luxembourg's economic promotion, including identifying foreign investors who would bring real added value to the national economy by consolidating the country's qualitative development. In addition, since 2016, there has been a new mission to monitor the economy in sectors and activities likely to create new opportunities for companies already established in Luxembourg and to attract new foreign direct investment.

In his opening speech at the 35th anniversary celebrations, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, commented: "Thanks to Luxinnovation, research and development and innovation have evolved in an unparalleled way in Luxembourg and probably even in international comparison over the past three decades. Due to its evolution over time and its expanded missions, Luxinnovation is and will remain an essential driver of innovation and economic success in the country". 

Minister for Higher Education and Research, Claude Meisch, pointed out in his speech that “Luxinnovation has been a central driver to ensure that public research conducted by public research centres and by the University of Luxembourg had a considerable impact on the country’s development economically, socially and environmentally. They will even play a greater role when it comes to build a data-driven knowledge society that we aim to develop in a responsible way by bringing tangible benefits to every citizen”.

Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation since May 2018, added: "In the coming years, Luxinnovation must inspire our companies to innovate, grow intelligently and be well prepared for the challenges of the future, with new and partly also disruptive technologies. We want to be more than ever recognised by companies and entrepreneurs as a trusted partner for them, enabling them to find pragmatic solutions for innovative development projects”. 

Mario Grotz, Chairman of the Luxinnovation Management Board, concluded: "We have formidable diversified and complementary skills. If we manage to communicate well with each other, to dialogue, to highlight these skills, we will make exceptional progress. Luxembourg promotes networking and the implementation of joint projects in a confined environment. This is an advantage we have over other countries. And Luxinnovation must be an essential link in this collaborative approach".