Étienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Minister of Health;
Credit: Luxinnovation
On Monday 20 January 2020, the conference "Health Technologies @ Luxembourg 2020" took place in the "Halle des poches à fonte" in Esch-Belval.
Organised by the Ministry of the Economy and the HealthTech Cluster of Luxinnovation, this conference provided an opportunity to present the latest trends in health technologies in Luxembourg in front of nearly 180 people, including 120 representatives of companies in the sector, and in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy and Minister of Health Étienne Schneider.
The testimonies of five innovative companies, active at different stages of the patient's health and medical journey, illustrated the diversity and richness of the Luxembourg health technologies landscape. An updated version of the mapping of the national health technology sector, presented for the first time in early 2019, was also shared. This mapping is the result of a collaboration between the Ministry of the Economy, the Observatoire de la Compétitivité, the HealthTech Cluster and the "Market intelligence" department of Luxinnovation.
According to the latest figures available, in 2017, the sector generated an added value of €180 million in Luxembourg, representing 0.35% of GDP. The sector currently comprises 136 companies and in 2019 employed nearly 1,600 people, 80% of whom were active in structures with no more than ten employees. Half of these 136 companies have been in existence for less than ten years.
"These regularly updated maps give us an insight into the evolution of the sector and current trends, as well as a better knowledge of Luxembourg-based medical technology companies that we can use to identify potential new business opportunities", explained Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation. "What is new this year is that we have been working on companies involved in the medical sector, but for which this is not their core business. This should allow us to better understand and maintain the transversality between technological fields".
Étienne Schneider added: "The health technology sector in Luxembourg is particularly dynamic and is largely based on the digitalisation of all aspects of health and the patient's medical journey. Our objective is to further support the emergence of intelligent health products and services based on personalised and digital medicine, thereby contributing to the development of a data economy for the benefit of a sustainable society”.
Within the national agency Luxinnovation, the Luxembourg HealthTech Cluster's primary mission is to bring together companies from the medical technology, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics and health industries and to support them in order to meet the multidimensional challenges of the sector.
