Call Launched for R&D Projects in Field of Defence

On Friday 3 June 2022, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, François Bausch, the Minister for Higher Education and Research, Claude Meisch, and the Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, launched a joint call for research and development (R&D) projects in the field of defence.

Following the European Union's (EU) request that its members invest 2% of their defence effort in R&D, the Luxembourg Government has set up an interministerial cooperation between the Directorate of Defence, the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research as well as the National Research Fund (Fonds National de la Recherche - FNR) and Luxinnovation in order to launch a call for dedicated R&D projects. This call for projects is aimed at bringing Luxembourg's Defence closer to this budgetary objective.

The call for projects aims in particular to support Luxembourg industry to integrate the defence value chain of the EU, through direct contact with the EU's Ministries of Defence, but also to promote the creation of a defence industry community in Luxembourg's priority sectors, as well as to promote Luxembourg's technological capabilities in the field of defence at the international level.

Given the specificities of the economic fabric and of public research in Luxembourg, the call for projects is limited to the space and materials sectors and targets both companies and research centres in Luxembourg.

The Directorate of Defence is financing the projects in 2022 to the tune of €3 million.

"Through the financing of R&D projects, Luxembourg Defence not only supports the Luxembourg economy and research, but also aims to finance dual-use projects, therefore having both civilian and military applications", stated Minister Bausch during the launch.

Minister Fayot added: "We have identified nearly 40 Luxembourg companies in the space and materials sector that have the required know-how to participate in this call for projects. This can therefore help them to obtain visibility and significant support for the development of dual-use technologies and offer them opportunities to engage in the European defence value chain".

"Notably because of its dual-use orientation, the call launched today fits perfectly into the national research and innovation strategy. The thematic areas of space and materials research are areas where Luxembourg research institutions are already very active and have accumulated skills over many years. In addition, this call will further promote collaboration between public research institutions and companies, one of the priorities of the FNR and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research", added Minister Meisch.

To facilitate the emergence of projects and support interested players in their efforts, Luxinnovation, the national agency for the promotion of innovation, has set up an online platform where companies and public research players are invited to submit their project ideas by Friday 29 July 2022.

Luxinnovation is also organising an information session on Friday 10 June 2022 at 11:00, in the form of a webinar, for companies and researchers interested in participating in the call for projects. The various presentations on the objectives and modalities of the call will be followed by a Q&A session. To register: https://app.livestorm.co/luxinnovation/joint-defence-call-2022-space-and-materials-launch-event