19—20

T H I N K LU X EM B O U RG

Data-driven
innovation
Mobility

Startup Luxembourg

Logistics

Smart, autonomous, connected

An innovative ecosystem

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03

WelcomeOur economy is being fundamentally transformed by access to anever-increasing amount of data. Numerous new services thatbring greater economic value and improve our daily lives havealready been created, but there is potential to do so much more.
Already considered a digital forerunner because of its highly
digitised and innovative economy, Luxembourg aims to become
one of the most advanced data economies in the world. The
Government’s data-driven innovation strategy for a trusted andsustainable economy and its artificial intelligence strategy
lay out a clear framework to reach this goal. The aim is
not only to provide an environment where new technologies canbe tested and applied, but also where all kinds of digitalbusinesses can prosper and expand within the broader European
and global markets. Big data offers a complete picture withreal-time information that can help policy-makers and businesses
take better decisions provided that the right data governanceis in place to guarantee the protection of privacy, personal
freedoms and intellectual property.

Sasha Baillie
CEO of Luxinnovation

For 35 years, Luxinnovation, the national innovation agency,
helps companies adopt digital technologies and use them toenhance their competitiveness and contribute to a sustainableeconomy. We do so by listening to companies, understanding theirneeds and helping them to overcome the hurdles they are facing.
Innovation is a means to an end. Our agency is an innovation
facilitator for all types of companies who want to be at theforefront of a sustainable and successful economy. As such,
we welcome entrepreneurs from all over the world looking foran environment that is receptive to their needs and that shares
their ambition of sustainable development. x

HappenPhotograph by Luxinnovation / Marion Dessard

This edition of Happen magazine, lays out the Government’s
strategies and shows how they are being implemented.
Luxembourg’s business-oriented high-performance computer, its
partnership with global artificial intelligence leader NVIDIA– the first of a kind in Europe – and its pioneering efforts
in the development of cybersecurity standards are among the
key projects featured. New opportunities brought about withdigitalisation in smart mobility, logistics and supply chain
management are featured in this edition. Last but not least,
Luxembourg’s maturing start-up ecosystem will be laid out.

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05

T H I N K LU X EM B O U RG

Impressum

Benchmarks 06
Nine facts about Luxembourg08	Interview
Xavier Bettel:“Artificial intelligence
for the benefit of all”

Published by Luxinnovationin collaboration with
Maison ModerneNews 14What happened in Luxembourg?
www.luxinnovation.lu

22 DATA-DRIVEN INNOVATION
Editors in chief24	Étienne Schneider:“Becoming a leading data economy”

Jean-Michel Gaudron and Lena Mårtensson
Contributors

32 First-rate infrastructure
for the data economy

Sue Hewitt
Jonas Mercier

36	Cybersecurity:a secure hub for data

Marine Mombelli

40	Luxembourg Digital
Innovation Hub
41 Strategies for the digital era
Smart Mobility 42
Enabling the wide-scale 44transformation of mobility
48 START-UPS
www.maisonmoderne.com
agency@maisonmoderne.com

50	A brand for an innovative
ecosystem© Maison Moderne™

52	A multitude of challenges

Maison Moderne is used under license by
MM Publishing and Media S.A. (Luxembourg).

55	“Developing synergies withincubators abroad is a priority”© 2019 Luxinnovation. All rights reserved.

56	They made it from Luxembourg

Any reproduction or adaptation, either

58	Creating the right atmospherefor each start-up

partial or total, is strictly prohibitedwithout the express written authorisationof Luxinnovation.

LOGISTICS AND 60
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
The digital future 62

Happen magazine in future,please send an email toTransforming 66
supply chain services

communication@luxinnovation.lu
To subscribe to our regular newsletterand other online updates about Luxembourg
as an ideal business location,please visit www.tradeandinvest.lu

Meet the decision-makers 72
Life in Luxembourg68	Local door openers for business78	Innovation
It happened 1st in Luxembourg

HappenIf you do not wish to receive

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06

BENCHM A RKSNINE Facts
about Luxembourg

2
1. After innovation leaders
Sweden, Finland, Denmark andthe Netherlands, Luxembourg
has the 5th best innovation
performance in the EU.
Happenx

19—
20

2. Due to the wide availability
and increasing adoption of fast
and ultrafast fixed and mobile
broadband networks, Luxembourg
ranks 2nd in the EU in termsof connectivity.

x

186

3. Luxembourg passport holders
can travel to 186 different
countries and its citizens have ahigh level of personal freedom:these are the main reasons why
the Luxembourg passport is ranked#1 in the world.

Sources: 1.2019 European Innovation Scoreboard / 2.The Digital Economy and Society Index 2019 /3.Nomad Passport Index 2019

x

07

7
4. Luxembourg is listed as
the 7th most resilient country
in the world (out of 130
countries). The country ranks
particularly well in the economic
sub-category (2nd).

x

12

5. Luxembourg ranks 12th mostcompetitive economy in the world(out of the 63 ranked economies).
The country ranks particularlyhigh in the category “Economic
performance” (4 th).

6. With a GDP per hour worked of$93.6, Luxembourg had the 2nd
highest labour productivity among
the world’s most mature economies
in 2018, just after Norway.

8. Luxembourg ranks #2 out of
the best countries in Europe
to raise a child, and #1 in the
sub-category “Health & Safety”.

9. Luxembourg is the safest cityin the world. Overall, it ranks
as the 18 th best city inthe world in which to live.

x

x

OPEN

x

x

x

4.Global Resilience Index 2019 / 5.IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2019 / 6.The Conference Board Productivity
Brief 2019 / 7.U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Countries study / 8.NimbleFins, Best countries in Europe
to raise children / 9.Mercer’s 2019 Quality of Living City Ranking

Happen7. For the third time, Luxembourg
ranks #1 among the countries thatare most “open for business” inthe world, due to its favourable
tax environment, transparent
government practices and low
level of corruption.

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08

I N T E RV I E W

XAVIER BETTELArtificial
intelligence
for thebenefit ofall

HappenIn May 2019, the Luxembourg
government presented its strategic
vision for artificial intelligence. The main priority of thePrime Minister and Minister for
Digitalisation is to ensure that
this extremely powerful technology
will bring advantages to everyone —businesses, research centres andindividual citizens.

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Text by Lena Mårtensson >Photographs by Patricia Pitsch (Maison Moderne) >Illustrations by Maison Moderne

09

Why did the government decide to develop
this strategic vision for artificial intelligence?
Xavier Bettel: Artificial intelligence (AI) is
no longer just a theoretical concept or a research
field – it has become a reality and part of ourdaily lives. The amount of data available ismultiplying with incredible speed, but it is only
valuable if we can extract useful informationfrom it and use it to provide concrete solutions
to real issues. AI is the key for doing this.
For the first time ever, we can tap into global
intelligence and use it to solve local problems.
Our government is committed to steering
the development and use of AI in a directionthat benefits our citizens. Luxembourg has aunique ability to become a living lab for real-life
AI applications. The country can also become
a forerunner for AI regulations that put people
first. We want to see AI weave smoothly
into the fabric of society, improve the lives of
all citizens and strengthen us as a nation andmember of the global community.

This vision is not only a one-off strategy.
We see it as a first step to developing aholistic policy vision that will be updated andfurther defined on a regular basis. An interministerial coordination group, led by myself,
will regularly assess the state of play andimplementation of the strategic vision.
We are advised by a committee of experts inlaw, science, technology, ethics and humanities,
and plan to invite members of the public to >

HappenYou consider this strategic vision as a national
priority. What does this mean in concrete terms?
We want to actively shape the way artificial
intelligence is used in our country.
Luxembourg’s commitment to AI goes wellbeyond just supporting applied R&D projects.
We want to be at the forefront of thisdevelopment by optimising the national data
market, facilitating the development of skills,
boosting investment and collaborating acrossborders. We believe that we can make adifference on a global scale. As a diverse,
innovative nation, we can define what impact
this technology will have on human rights,
on people’s lives and on our democratic values.

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10

I N T E RV I E W

WHO
IS
HE?
Name
Xavier Bettel
Born
3 March 1973
since 2013
Prime Minister, Minister
for Communications and Media

Xavier Bettel is a Luxembourg
politician and member ofthe Democratic Party (DP).
He was elected to Parliament
for the first time in 1999.
A barrister by profession, hebecame mayor of the City of
Luxembourg in 2011. Following
the legislative electionsin 2013, he was appointed
Prime Minister, Minister ofState, Minister forCommunications and Media andMinister for Religious Affairs.
He once again took on therole of Prime Minister after
the 2018 elections, andwas also appointed Minister
for Communications and Media,
Minister for Religious Affairs,
Minister for Digitalisationand Minister for Administrative
Reform.

Happenx

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participate through public policy
consultations.
Do you target specific sectors, or does the visionconsider all kinds of AI developments?
AI will have an impact on a wide range of sectors,
and individuals can benefit from it throughassisted living, decision-making, health care,mobility and much more. If artificial intelligenceis used to treat the huge amount of mobility datathat is collected every day, for example, it canhelp make travel safer, support traffic management and provide useful information on the mostefficient modes of transport.
AI is an essential tool for setting up smart cities
offering sustainable solutions, such as optimisedbuilding efficiency, waste management andenergy consumption and storage. AI-supported
diagnoses and treatment procedures will also
bring preventive healthcare to the next leveland enable the implementation of personalised
healthcare – a major Luxembourg priority.
In addition, AI has the potential to simplify
citizen-government interactions by providing
access to efficient, transparent and customercentred public services.
Artificial intelligence can seem frightening, especially as future developments could havea negative impact on humankind. How can we
ensure that this influential technology will
not be used to the detriment of human values?
AI is indeed at the brink of becoming generally
accessible and applicable in industry as well as
in other aspects of society, such as education,
environment and art. As with any otherhigh-potential technology, the use of AI will
have far-reaching consequences and experiencesome growing pains.
Integrating AI into existing workflows, forexample, may raise new questions related toworking conditions, employment law andlabour relations. The increased automation ofpreviously manual tasks brings challenges,
but at the same time, there is a great potential
to create new jobs. These will probably require
a completely different skillset, however,which could potentially lead to a polarisation

11of the labour market. The inclusive labour market
policies that our government pursues are vitalto ensure that nobody is left behind. Anotherchallenge is that in many cases, AI services relyon the use of personal data. Cyber­security anddata privacy are already at the top of the government’s priority list, and they obviously remain
critical in the context of AI.
The government’s human-centric strategic vision
makes it very clear: the individual should beat the centre of all AI services that we support in
Luxembourg. After all, we do not encourage
digitalisation and new technologies for their own
sake, but for their capacity to improve our daily
lives. We aim to raise awareness and help citizens
develop a deeper understanding of AI in order
to transform them from passive consumers
to active users of AI-related products, services
and technologies.
As you just mentioned, we know that as a result of AI,
new jobs will emerge while others disappear.
What is your vision of training and skills development?
What kind of profiles do you want to attract
to Luxembourg?
Over the past ten years, Luxembourg has attracted
excellent researchers and talents to build a solid
foundation for AI expertise. As the use of thistechnology is now increasing in various profes-

sional fields, we need to anticipate the futureneeds for skills and invest significant sums inlifelong learning and specific digital and
AI-related training programmes. The aim is tohelp companies and their employees, as wellas the unemployed, successfully adapt to thechanging labour market.
In spring 2018, the government launched the
Luxembourg Digital Skills Bridge initiative that
addresses these points. As a next step, we will
map the national education offer to ensure that
AI is integrated into other disciplines suchas law, business, human sciences, environmentand health. We are also looking into best-practicemethods regarding how to reinforce excellence,retain AI talent in Europe and attract more
women to AI studies.
What investments has the state already madefor developing AI-related projects, and whatis planned in the coming years?
We have invested heavily in international
connectivity, IT infrastructure and innovative
projects for the past 15 years, and often
engaged in strategic partnerships. The Luxembourg Commercial Internet eXchange (LU-CIX)
encompasses a network of six data centres
and provides the groundwork for high-speed,
high-volume data transfers, blockchain
initiatives and cybersecurity measures.
The country’s high performance computing
initiative strives to open up access to extensive
computer resources and expertise to a broad rangeof players. The intention is to lower the entry
barriers for AI-based products and services bymutualising costs and pooling scarce skills.
We also want to create synergies between new
public investments in R&D and innovation andinfrastructure related to AI activities – forinstance, by launching initiatives similar to the 5G
pilot zones that will be emerging in Luxembourg
over the next few years. 5G will enable moreconnectivity in all aspects of life, such as home,mobility, health and industrial production.
Our R&D investments largely focus on appliedresearch with international multidisciplinary
centres of excellence in the fields of biology, >Happen“Luxembourg has
a unique ability
to become a living
lab for real-life
AI applications.”

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12

I N T E RV I E W

cybersecurity, networking and trust. The National
Research Fund provides funding for publicprivate research collaboration on topics likeadvanced robotics, digital manufacturing,
improved design tools and enhanced perceptual
capabilities in AI systems. It also supports
technology sharing and encourages the creationof research-based spin-offs.
In general, we want to develop new partnerships
with leading firms to grow the number of AI
solutions and skills accessible to the Luxembourg
ecosystem. One example is our ongoing partnershipwith AI-expert NVIDIA, which has led to thecreation of a joint AI laboratory in Luxembourg.

Happen“Over the past 10 years,
Luxembourg has attracted
excellent researchers
and talents to build asolid foundation for
AI expertise.”

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Luxembourg is not an island. How is the country’s
cooperation with major technological partners
in neighbouring states structured? What are thecontributions of each party?
Luxembourg has indeed a long-standing traditionof active participation in new EU initiatives,and I want to reiterate our commitment toinvesting in European AI-related collaborations.
We intend to actively support high-quality
networks of European AI research centres andtake part in key community and cross-border
initiatives, such as AI-powered Earth observationor the development of a shared database ofhealth images. Luxembourg aims to promote
and adopt international standards in the fieldof open data and facilitate the interoperability
between data catalogues. Another priority is
to analyse the feasibility of sharing and building
AI expertise in strategic development
cooperation countries. We also want to learn
about best practices from countries with mature
AI-related projects and establish researchbased collaborations.
However, the ambitions of international partnerships go even further than this. The new 2030
general development cooperation strategy,
focused on the sustainable development goals of
the 2030 agenda, envisages knowledge transfer
on AI solutions in order to contribute to eradicating extreme poverty and promoting sustainability.
This powerful technology is bursting with
opportunity – what this means exactly and what
we do with it is up to us. x

Wheretomorrow
beginsSome dream.
Some discover.
Some change the world for the better.
We connect it all.
At LIST, we build the bridges that connect theworld of academia with the real change that’s
happening in the market. It’s research andinnovation made in Luxembourg. And it’s atyour service.

LIST.lu* detail of LIST’s work on digital twin applications

14

NEWS

What

HAPPENED

in Luxembourg

Happen?
19—
20

Hosting the next Cleantech Forum Europe,
opening an innovative pavilion at
the World Expo in Dubai, facilitating
access to space data, it is all in thelatest news roundup on innovation in
Luxembourg.

15

LOW COST Luxembourg ranks 84th on Mercer’s 2019 Cost of Living
City Ranking, well behind European neighbours such as London(23 rd) or Paris (47th). This study is based on parameterssuch as the price of rent, food, transport, tobacco, services
and healthcare.

EVENT

WHO
SAID
WHAT?
“Luxembourg’s best
performance in the
Digital Economy
and Society Index
is in Connectivity,in which it now
ranks second among
EU countries.”

Photograph by Luxinnovation

Luxembourg has been selected tohost the 2020 edition of the Cleantech Forum Europe, a majorinternational event in the field ofclean technologies. The forum will
provide excellent opportunities forthe exchange of ideas on the latest
cleantech trends with leading
stakeholders from all over Europe.
It will also showcase Luxembourg’s
most dynamic organisations andprojects in the field.
Promoting clean technologies andthe transition towards a circular
economy is a priority in Luxembourg. The country also offers an
attractive economic environment forentrepreneurs who are keen to
create value whilst reducing pollution, waste and energy consumption.

This is the reason why the Ministryof the Economy, Luxinnovation andLuxembourg for Finance have put
forward a proposal to host the2020 edition of the event in Luxembourg. “We will be able to show a lotof interesting initiatives,” explains
Jean-Michel Ludwig, Luxinnovation’s Director of Business Development. “For example, next year, we
will be the first country in the world
where people can travel everywherein the country by public transportcompletely free of charge.” x

www.cleantech.com/event/cleantech-forum-europe/“Luxembourg is
poised to play apioneering rolein the developmentof a commercial
space economy.”
Étienne Schneider
Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of the Economy“The establishment of
new start-ups withhigh added value
contributes to
Luxembourg’s economic
diversification andgrowth.”Mario Grotz
President of Luxinnovation

Happen2020 Cleantech Forum
Europe in Luxembourg

Digital Economy
and Society Index (DESI),
2019 Luxembourg Report

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16

NEWS

DID
YOU
KNOW?

OPEN ACCESS

2.4%

€3
billionThis is the amount that
the European Innovation
Council (the new European
financial instrument)
plans to distribute by2020 to enable the mosttalented innovators to help
their companies scale up
and expand internationally.

Happen10,00019—20This is the distance,in kilometres, from thedirect freight rail linkinaugurated in October
between Luxembourg andChengdu (China).

Promoting accessto space data
At the Space Forum in May 2019,the young Luxembourg Space
Agency (LSA) announced thecreation of the LSA Data Center.
Its goal is to support businesses
in Luxembourg with reliable, fastand intuitive access to data streams
from the European Copernicus
Earth Observation programme.
“This LSA initiative is just a firststep to facilitate access to space datawith the aim of stimulating newservices provided by Luxembourg
as a hub for commercial spacein Europe,” explains Marc Serres,
LSA’s CEO.
The data centre will promote
the development of products
and services which rely on
constantly updated Earth
Observation data.
The detailed optical and radar
imaging data has many possible usesof potential interest for various

sectors: environment, maritime,
meteorology, agriculture, mobility,
aviation and health. The information
is provided on a full, free andopen access basis.

“This initiative
is just thefirst step.”
The LSA Data Center is fullyaligned with the objectives ofthe Ministry of the Economy tosupport the further emergenceof a trusted data-driven economy
in Luxembourg and accelerate
the digital transformation ofits strategic sectors including thespace industry itself. x
www.collgs.lu

Photograph by Copernicus Sentinel Data

This is Luxembourg’s GDP
growth forecast for2020 (source: National
Institute of Statistics
and Economic Studies
of Luxembourg).

Patents
Trademarks

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Copyright

Winning Intellectual Property Strategies
We provide in-depth advice and service to vigorously protect our clients’ rights
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www.freylinger.com

NEWS

WHO
IS
HE?
François Lafont is the first
CEO of the new Luxembourg
Convention Bureau, apartnership between theCity of Luxembourg andthe Ministry of the Economy.
This organisation has justbeen created to enable
the Grand Duchy to join
the top 50 countries thathost the most events inthe world, according to
the International Congress
and Convention Association
ranking. Mr Lafont, 55,
was for the last ten years
Deputy Director of Congress& Events at the Tourism,
Meeting Industry & Economic
Development Agency of
Toulouse (France).
“Luxembourg has theinfrastructure to host
European or global events,”
he explains.

EXHIBITIONPARTNERSHIP

Connecting minds,
creating the future
Luxembourg will be present with apavilion of more than 2,700 m2
at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai(from 20 October 2020 to 10 April
2021), the first edition to be heldin the Middle East. Luxembourg’spresence was prepared a long timeago, since the country was the firstforeign nation to break groundfor its pavilion in April 2018.
Under the main theme “Connecting
Minds, Creating the Future”, theWorld Expo aims to promote
innovation and sustainable development. This is perfectly in line with
Luxembourg’s national economic
diversification policy, particularly
with regards to the space sector
and information and communication
technologies. The scenography

inside the three-storey pavilion will
focus on the theme “Resourceful
Luxembourg” and will highlightthe concepts of diversity, connectivity, sustainability and boldness.
Emphasis will also be placed on the
country’s natural beauty, Luxembourg’s entrepreneurial ability to
reinvent itself and its commitment
to sustainable growth. The pavilion
will host a varied programme of
economic and cultural events.
In addition to a series of thematic
missions related to specialised fairs,
a “Made in Luxembourg” week will
be organised to promote Luxembourg products. Artists will also
exhibit their works in the pavilion.x
www.luxembourgexpo2020dubai.lu/en

Happen€160 million investment by Euro-Composites

19
—
20

Composite materials specialist Euro-Composites,
which employs almost 1,100 people worldwide (850in Luxembourg), will invest €160 million in its
Luxembourg site in Echternach. It will extend its
production halls and acquire new state-of-the-art
equipment during the period 2020-2030.

Illustration by Jan Hanrion (Maison Moderne) / Photograph from Metaform18

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NEWS

WHO
IS
SHE?

PARTNERSHIP

A joint cleanspace initiative

HappenDuring the visit of Luxembourg’s
Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of the Economy, Étienne
Schneider, to the NorthStar Earth& Space headquarters in Montreal
in July, a cooperation was launchedon a clean space initiative aimed
at fostering sustainability in space.
This initiative will evaluate theuse of NorthStar earth and space
information services with thesupport of Luxembourg’s insurance,
financial and satellite operator
communities. Together thesestakeholders hope to address someof the key issues related to spacetraffic management, sustainable
commercialisation of space activities, insurance products for space
operations to promote growth in

19
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commercial space activities, andsatellite operational challenges.
NorthStar’s mission is to empowerhumanity to preserve the planet byputting into place a unique spaceand earth information platform
dedicated to space-based space
situational awareness (SSA) andearth intelligence. Starting in 2021
and based on a satellite constellationequipped with hyperspectral,
infrared and optical sensors, thisplatform will operate continuously
from space, imaging, digitisingand analysing the details of earth’s
ecosystems and surrounding orbit
on a daily basis. x
www.northstar-data.com

Morocco highlight A new Luxembourg Trade & Investment
Office will open soon in Casablanca (Morocco). It will be thefirst one on the African continent, which represents a highpotential market for the development of the Luxembourg economy.
The office will support companies looking to invest in theGrand Duchy and Luxembourg businesses wishing to expand theirinternational activities.

Prof. Dr Tonie Van Dam,
vice-rector for strategic
projects at the Universityof Luxembourg, was honoured
in May 2019 with the Vening
Meinesz Medal, establishedby the European Geosciences
Union (EGU) for distinguished research in geodesy.
The award was inrecognition of her
pioneering work on the
deformations of the solid
Earth under a variety
of surface loads and on
their measurements using
space geodetic observation
techniques. Dr Van Dam,
who has published morethan 120 national andinternational articles,
also received the GrandPrix 2017 in Geological
Sciences from the Institut
Grand-Ducal in Luxembourg.

Illustration by Jan Hanrion (Maison Moderne) / Photograph from Unsplash

20

Partner up withpublic researchfor your next
industry 4.0
or space project!

www.fnr.lu/ppp

BRIDGES & INDUSTRIAL
FELLOWSHIPS
Research helps you innovateand stay competitive!

22

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O NDATADRIVENINNOVATION
24
Étienne Schneider:“Becoming a leading data
economy”

32
First-rate infrastructure
for the data economy

40
Luxembourg Digital
Innovation Hub

41
Strategies forthe digital era

36
Cybersecurity:a secure hub for data

HappenText by Lena Mårtensson > Photographs by Jan Hanrion (Maison Moderne) >Illustrations by Maison Moderne

19
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23

Digest:HappenIn May 2019, the Luxembourg
government presented its strategy
for data-driven innovation aimed
at making Luxembourg the mosttrusted data economy in Europe.
The strategy has three focus areas:
continuing the investments in the
country’s top-notch digital infrastructure, supporting businesses
in the adoption of innovative
digital technologies and creatinga favourable legal and financial
environment. Luxembourg’sbusiness-oriented petascale highperformance computer will be
operational in 2020, and thecountry has set up the first European partnership on artificial
intelligence with global AI leader
NVIDIA. Widely recognised as acentre of excellence in cybersecurity, Luxembourg is at the forefrontin fields such as electronic identification and cyber insurance. It isalso developing innovative solutions
for the de-identification of personal
data in order to allow companies
to create business value from securedata lakes. Well aware that openness to international companies
has always been a key success factor,
Luxembourg offers a unique anddynamic environment for highpotential digital activities where
innovative ideas can be transformed
into successful business. x

19
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24

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N

Becoming
a leadingdata
economyÉTIENNE SCHNEIDER

HappenLuxembourg is determined to become
Europe’s most-trusted data economy
over the next few years. The Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister ofthe Economy outlines the government’s
plan to achieve this, set out inthe recently released strategy fordata-driven innovation.

19
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25

Why did the Luxembourg government decideto develop a strategy for data-driven innovation?
Étienne Schneider: Digital and data-enabledtechnologies are influencing all aspects of today’ssociety: they shape our way of working andcommunicating with each other, to the point oftransforming our lives. As digital technologies
are being deployed across all economic sectors,
they have a particularly strong impact on thedevelopment of the economy.
Data-driven innovation revolutionises how we dobusiness and makes it possible to deliver solutions
with unprecedented speed and flexibility, often
while also reducing the overall costs and decreasing the environmental impact.
Boosting the digital transformation of the national
economy is therefore a priority for the Ministryof the Economy. Our “Data-Driven Innovation
Strategy for the Development of a Trusted andSustainable Economy in Luxembourg” outlines
the government’s vision for digitalising our priority
economic sectors. The strategy addresses the
projects and policies that the ministry will leveragein order to support the emergence of a trusted,data-driven economy in Luxembourg and accelerate the digital transformation of strategic sectors.

Today, the country enjoys solid foundations forfacing future ICT-enabled opportunities andchallenges. With its competitive businessenvironment and smart policies, Luxembourg
has all the assets needed to be an innovative
forerunner in the data-driven economy and aperfect location for digital activities in general.
Our current focus is on seizing the opportunities
provided by digital technologies to create the >HappenWhere is Luxembourg in this field today, and what
do you see as the main opportunities for the future?
Luxembourg identified information andcommunication technologies (ICT) as crucial
for the successful diversification of the country’s
economy more than 20 years ago. Since then,major infrastructure investments have been
made, notably in extensive broadband networks,
outstanding international connectivity andstate-of-the-art high-end data centres.

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26

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N

WHO
IS
HE?

digital economy of tomorrow. The strategy isbuilt on a holistic approach to digital transform­
ation. It does not only include adopting strategic
technologies, but also developing appropriate
skills, building relevant infrastruct­ure andecosystems, and designing efficient policies andsupport measures.

Name
Étienne Schneider
Born
29 January 1971
2012
Minister of the Economy
and Foreign Trade
Since 2013
Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of the Economy

Étienne Schneider is a
Luxembourg politician andmember of the Luxembourg
socialist workers’ party(LSAP). After having worked
as a Senior Government Advisor
to the Ministry of the
Economy and Foreign Trade,he was appointed Ministerof the Economy and Foreign
Trade in 2012. In thegovernment formed following
the 2013 general elections,
he was Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of the Economy,
Minister of Internal Security
and Minister of Defence.
In the current government,in place since 2018, he is
Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of the Economy and
Minister of Health.

Happenx

19—
20

Has the strategy been inspired by any observations
from other countries?
The emerging data economy provides opportu­
nities as well as competitive challenges for
all countries. Those that are best preparedand equipped to compete digitally will alsocome out best. Over the next decade, digital
data, infrastructure and knowledge will become
strategic economic and competitive assets inadvanced nations across the world.
In the European Union, the establishment ofa digital single market is a prerequisite for
attracting investments in the field of digital
innovation and accelerating the growth ofdigital business. The European Commission has
initiated an ambitious strategy for shaping
the digital single market, based on a series ofactions related to the European Cloud Initiative
and the digitalisation of European industry.
The European digital agenda focuses on areas
such as supercomputers, artificial intelligence,cybersecurity and digital skills. Luxembourg haschosen to align with these priorities. Our digital
innovation strategy thus leverages and builds
on the EU’s digital policy and investments.
Which sectors are prioritised in the strategy?
More than ten years ago, the government
adopted a multi-specialisation strategy to further
develop and diversify the national economy andbetter complement the strong financial sector. In
order to achieve critical mass and impact, thestrategy focuses on selected priority sectors: ICT,
industry 4.0, health technologies, logistics, thespace sector, eco-technologies – with a strongemphasis on the circular economy and smart
mobility – and financial technologies.
The data-driven innovation strategy has threemajor focus areas: strengthening the digital  >27

PRIORIT Y SECTORS IN
THE DATA-DRIV ENINNOVATION STR ATEGYMULTI-SPECIALISATIONThe strategy includes sector-specific innovation plansand policies for the following sectors:

EcotechHealthtech

Logistics

Space

Financial services

Circular Economy

Industry 4.0

Source: Mapping byHappenInformation and communication technologies

19
—
20

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N“We offer a unique,secure environment for
high-potential digital
activities where
innovative ideas canbe transformed into
successful business.”

infrastructure, supporting businesses in the
adoption of innovative digital technologies
and creating a favourable legal and financial
environment for the data economy. It describes
the current situation and context of each ofthese sectors, and proposes concrete actions
aimed at increasing their productivity andensuring their sustainable development in thedata economy.

HappenThe ICT sector obviously has a transversal
impact on all other areas, as digital technologies
act both as an enabler and as a driver for the
rest of the economy. We also expect the positiveeffects of the strategy to go well beyond theselected priority sectors.

19
—
20

What main actions and initiatives will beor are currently being implemented?
We officially launched our Luxembourg Digital
Innovation Hub (L-DIH) – a key element of thedata-driven innovation strategy – at the end of
September. Its mission is to actively contributeto the digital transformation of the economy bysupporting companies in their strategic thinking
and concrete actions. Hosted and managed by
Luxinnovation, the national innovation agency,
the L-DIH will facilitate contact between
companies that need access to digitalisation
skills, technologies, services and support actions,and service providers who can meet their needs.

Another concrete achievement is the implementation of a high performance computer (HPC)
in Luxembourg that will be operational in
2020. With a calculating power of 10 petaflops/
second, it has been designed to meet the needsof companies, in particular SMEs and start-ups.
A dedicated competence centre will advise
and support less experienced users with theirprojects. The HPC will also be used forresearch purposes.
When it comes to projects by individualcompanies that fit into our data-driven
innovation strategy, I would like to mention
the “Factory of the Future” project launchedby Husky Injection Molding Systems in
February this year. This project, and the factthat Husky chose to implement it here,
confirms that Luxembourg is an attractive
location for high-tech industrial investments
done by international groups. It is a tangible
example of digital innovation in the fieldof Industry 4.0.
The fully automated tyre factory of Goodyearin Dudelange is yet another example ofsuch milestones pointing the way to a fully
digitalised industry and economy.
Are there any transnational dimensions tothe strategy or cross-border projects?
Many projects described in the strategy are to
be considered in the European context, and have,as such, cross-border and supranational aspects.
Our HPC, for example, is part of the European
network of supercomputing and will benefit from
European co-funding. Our progressive approachin the fields of HPC and big data – the newbuilding blocks of digital competitiveness – hasresulted in Luxembourg being chosen as thelocation of the EuroHPC agency that manages
the EU’s supercomputing initiative.
The L-DIH is also part of a European network
aimed at bringing together supply and demandin the context of the digitalisation of industry,
and, in particular, SMEs. It will work together
with Digital Innovation Hubs all over the EU
to provide access to technological expertise andexperimentation facilities.

Photograph by Goodyear

28

29

What are Luxembourg’s main advantages as alocation for international companies involved
in data-driven innovation?
Luxembourg’s openness has always been a key
success factor for the economy. The positive
development of our manufacturing industry andour major financial centre has been fuelled byattracting international entrepreneurs, investors
and activities.
I’m convinced that the same is true for the
ICT sector. Well-established companies as well
as start-ups from all over the world come to
Luxembourg to develop their activities and serve

not only the national markets, but customers
from all over Europe and beyond.
As mentioned before, the government recognised at an early stage that the future lies inthe digitalisation of our economy and society.
This is why we equipped ourselves with thenecessary infrastructure to master the digital
future. Our ICT infrastructure, capacities andcompetences are outstanding, and we havesteadily maintained a high level of investmentin the field. Data centres, connectivity, cyber­security and related skills are at the heart of ourstrategy to be a trusted hub for valuable data.
With the high-end digital infrastructure,
we have prepared the national economy wellfor the challenges we will face in a digitalinterconnected future. Luxembourg also hasa modern and reactive legal and regulatory
framework designed to foster businessdevelopment. We can thus offer a unique andsecure environment for high-potential digital
activities where innovative ideas can be transformed into successful business. >The 2017 groundbreaking ceremony
for the new
production
facilities ofGoodyear Tire
& Rubber Company
in Luxembourg.
The new operation
is fully governedby the principles
of Industry 4.0.

HappenI would also like to mention the cross-border
testbed for automated and connected driving
set up in partnership with our neighbouring
countries. This data-driven project makes it
possible to test autonomous driving and smart
mobility solutions in a cross-border area connecting France, Germany and Luxembourg.
The aim is to attract pilot projects and research
activities centred on data in the smart
mobility sector.

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30

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N

How can Luxembourg attract, train and retain
talents with the skills needed for the data economy?
Luxembourg owes a large amount of its economic success to its foreign labour force, consisting of both expats and cross-border commuters.
Diversity is an important driver of innovation,and Luxembourg is an expert in embracing
all its facets. The country is a welcoming place
where it is easy to settle and find work, andwhere administrative procedures run smoothlywith support from responsive multilingual
government officials.
This makes me very optimistic about the talentand skills that we are able to build. However,
attracting talents from abroad will not be
sufficient, and we also need to focus on developing and retaining native skilled professionals.
With dedicated educational programmes,
we can foster the interest of children in scienceand technology, and an extended offer ofhigher education degrees such as the Interdisciplinary Space Master at the University of
Luxembourg will ensure the availability ofskilled staff in the future.

Inter-ministerial
collaboration

HappenA TRANSVERSALSTRATEGY19—20

ICT and the data economy aretransversal topics with abroad impact on the economy
and society in general. The
strategy for data-driven
innovation, developed by the
Ministry of the Economy,
is aimed at fostering thedevelopment and use of digitaltechnologies by companies– large groups, SMEs andstart-ups – in order to drive
future growth. These
technologies include artificial
intelligence, the Internetof Things, smart components,
systems and networks, HPC and

Lifelong learning also plays a key role. Our aim
is to build a diverse, resilient and flexible talentpool and to facilitate the successful deploymentof knowledge and skills.
Looking ten years or so into the future, what results
would you like to see in order to consider the strategy
as a success?
The overall goal of the data-driven innovation
strategy is to propose a vision and path forward
for Luxembourg. We aim to put in place thedigital innovation policies and assets needed tofoster the emergence of a robust data economy
and a start-up ecosystem centred on data-driven
innovation. This will also accelerate the digitaltransformation of existing industry across key
strategic economic sectors.
Luxembourg will strive to become the mosttrusted data economy within the European
Union by 2023. I’m convinced that in ten years,
Luxembourg will be at the forefront of datadriven innovation propelled by start-ups thatcollaborate closely with corporate open innovation hubs or deploy testbed activities. x

big data analytics, to namebut a few. Their implementation
will influence a broad rangeof aspects that go beyond theremit of the Ministry of the
Economy.
“The data-driven innovation
strategy includes measuresthat concern the whole
government and will be
implemented in coordination
with all ministries concerned,”
explains Minister Schneider.
“For matters regarding
energy efficiency, mobility
and the sustainable use ofresources, we work together
with the ministries ofEnergy and Spatial Planning,
Mobility and Public Works,
and Environment, Climate andSustainable Development.
Within the ’Digital Luxembourg’
initiative, we collaborate
with all the stakeholders forthe development of digitalskills. Finally, we discuss

financial incentives and tax
measures with the Ministryof Finance.”
In parallel with thegovernment’s work on datadriven innovation, theMinistry for Digitalisation
developed a new artificial
intelligence strategic
vision for Luxembourg,
focusing on society andcitizens. This strategy willfurther support Luxembourg’s
ambition to be among themost advanced digital societies
in the world. “We obviously
work in close cooperation
with the Ministry of Stateand the Ministry for
Digitalisation as the topics
they endorse are complementary
to ours,” comments
Minister Schneider.

x

32

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N

HPC AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

First-rate infrastructure
for the data economy
Data is the most precious assetof the digital economy. Europe
is building a world-classinfrastructure for high-performancecomputing, thereby making it
possible to exploit this highly
valuable resource on an
unprecedented scale.

T

Happenhe need for massive
computer power to process
big data is rising exponentially in both industry
and the research sector, and highperformance computing (HPC)
has been on Luxembourg’s agenda
for the past decade. Well aware that
Europe was lagging behind in thisfield, and that the necessary investments would exceed what a single
country could do on its own, theLuxembourg government initiateddiscussions with the European
Commission resulting in the launchof a pan-European HPC initiative.

19
—
20

In 2017, Luxembourg and six othercountries signed an agreement
to participate in the joint European
and national effort to build anddeploy a world-class computing
and data infrastructure in Europe
with participation of all EU member
states and associated countries.

The EuroHPC joint undertaking
was set up to pool all financial
means available for developing
top-of-the-range exascale supercomputers for processing big data.
Recognising the leadership shown
by Luxembourg during the process,the EU decided to locate theEuroHPC in the Grand Duchy.
Innovative infrastructure
In early 2019, the EuroHPC
launched a call for proposals to
select eight sites all over Europethat would host petascale
supercomputers. Luxembourg
was obviously keen to host one of
the HPCs. “We wanted topropose an innovative computerarchitecture adapted to the needsof the Luxembourg economy andour strategy for data-driven
innovation,” says Jean-Marie Spaus,
HPC Project Coordinator at
the Ministry of the Economy.

Following discussions with theuser community from the outset,
the ministry brought together
an innovative team that developed
a modular supercomputing
architecture. Lxembourg's proposal
was highly rated during the evaluation process, ranking second overall.
“Our innovative approach andthe business case behind was highly
recognised,” notes Mr Spaus.
Open for business
Located in Bissen, literally nextdoor to Luxembourg’s Mobility
Innovation Campus, the HPC will
be available to start-ups and industrial companies as well as universities, public research organisations and administrations. “This isquite unique as most HPCs are
pure research centres,” says Roger
Lampach, CEO of multi-tierand multi-tenant data centre
facility LuxConnect that will host

33

Luxembourg has a solid basis formaking the HPC a success.
“We have the knowledge of dataprocessing, high-speed connectivity,
top-tier data centres and computing
power and cloud computing
elements on top,” says Mr Spaus.
“Our objective is to turn Luxembourg into a kind of HQ for data
owned by companies. We want tobring enormous amounts of data
here, process it and create information with real economic value.”
The HPC is making this possible.
Artificial intelligencelaboratory
Big data processing is also the basis

for developing artificial intelligence(AI), another Luxembourg key focus
area. The demand for AI-related
technologies is growing, notably inthe fields of finance, healthcare andspace resources research, and inearly 2019, Luxembourg set up thefirst European partnership on
artificial intelligence with global AI
leader NVIDIA. It was put in placein the context of the governmental
initiative Digital Luxembourg thataims to strengthen Luxembourg’s
status as a digital pioneer. “Thispartnership will give our researchers
access to state-of-the-art equipment
and, in particular, allow them tobenefit from NVIDIA’s experience
to treat real-world problems by using
AI,” said Stéphane Pallage, therector of the University of Luxembourg, at the launch of the lab.
Senior research scientist Radu State
heads the research group at theuniversity’s Interdisciplinary Centre
for Security, Reliability and Trust(SnT) that hosts the laboratory.
“Together with representatives ofDigital Luxembourg, we started toreflect on using graphics >

FA C T S

1023%

Luxembourg’s highperformance computer
will have a capacityof 10 petaflops (or10,000,000,000,000,000
computing operations
per second).

23% of Luxembourg
companies are
currently using
artificial
intelligence(source: PwC
Luxembourg, 2019).

Husky

PIONEERINGTHE FACTORY
OF THE FUTURE
Websitehusky.co

Husky Injection Molding
Systems chose its Luxembourg
production site as thelocation for its Industry 4.0
initiative “Factory of the
Future”, a key project to bring
the groups’ performance tothe next level. Its aim is
to make the entire end-to-end
business process, from therequest for an offer to thedelivery of the final product,
completely digital. Using oneof its products as a model,
the company has developed asuccessful proof of concept
in collaboration with Siemens
and the University of
Luxembourg.
“There were two main reasonsfor launching this projectin Luxembourg: firstly,
because we had people withthe right skills to design,
lead and implement sucha pioneering activity here,
and secondly, because we
received considerable
support from the Ministryof the Economy to help speed
up the process,” explains
Director of Digitisation
Jean-Christophe Witz.
The next step will be to
implement the new process
for all products. “We arebenefiting from Luxembourg’s
Skills Bridge programme totrain our staff for working
in a fully digitalised
environment,” says Mr Witz.
The Industry 4.0 processes
developed in Luxembourg
will also be deployed acrossHusky’s different sitesaround the world.

xHappenthe HPC. “35% of the capacity is
reserved for research, and we willcommercialise the remaining 65%
to companies inside and outside
Luxembourg.” Expecting the HPC
to be operational at the end of 2020,
LuxConnect is starting the recruitment of hardware, software, application and user support specialists
with relevant expertise in fields
such as Industry 4.0, smart mobility,
health technologies and space.

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20

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O NDATA ESSENTIALTURNINGDATA INTO
BUSINESS
VALUE
Websitedata-essential.com

Data Essential provides thetools needed for companies tobe able to extract value fromtheir data. The start-up
specialises in data analytics
and platforms on one hand, andin cloud native infrastructureon the other. “We enable ourcustomers to create businessvalue from their data throughmachine learning, deep learningor other aspects of artificial
intelligence,” explainsfounder and CTO Jonathan Basse.
“We help them build platforms
and capabilities needed totackle new types of projects
and focus their own softwaredevelopment on creating
business value rather than onsolving technical challenges.”

HappenData Essential has clientsin sectors ranging frommanufacturing to aerospace
and administration, both inLuxembourg and abroad.
“Luxembourg obviously offers
a lot of opportunities in
the financial and insurance
field, but we have no
vertical specialisation andno business knowledge as
such,” says Mr Basse. “We put
in place appropriate workflows for data acquisition
and transformation as well
as data processing platforms.
These enable our customers
to innovate and launch new
business activities.”

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The company was recently
acquired by the French group
Linkbynet. A move that willallow it to extend its
international reach.

x

processing units (GPUs) producedby NVIDIA for AI and machinelearning,” he remembers. Digital
Luxembourg organised an initial
workshop with NVIDIA that was
met with much interest and led tothe idea of a large-scale collaboration.
Focus on key sectors
NVIDIA, the university’s HPC
centre, the SnT, the Luxembourg
Centre for Systems Biomedicine(LCSB) and the Luxembourg
Institute of Science and Technology(LIST) have initially committed
to designate a team of six people
to work on joint projects. The SnT
hosts an engineer from NVIDIA
who plays a coordinating role.
“One of the first things I think we
can do together is engage inmachine learning and deep learning
projects funded by the EU’s Horizon
2020 programme for research andinnovation,” says Dr State. “I also
really look forward to extending thecollaboration to private companies.”
Working with the private sector is apriority for the SnT, and almost
all of the 34 researchers in Dr State’s

group are funded by industry
projects. “We work in a very
applied way with local businesses,”
he explains. “The NVIDIA
technology is very interesting for
Luxembourg’s key sectors suchas autonomous driving or spacetechnologies. There is, for example,
a company here in Luxembourgthat is building a rover for
exploring the surface of the moon.
NVIDIA’s GPUs have the very
high image processing capacity
needed to determine where toland and to operate the robot on
the moon.”
The university now offers training
sessions, open to anyone, whichgive participants hands-on experience of working with NVIDIA
technology. So what results
does Dr State hope to see coming
out of this AI collaboration?
“I’m very business oriented. Forme, the initiative is successful if
in the next 5-10 years we manage
to develop 20-30 companies
specialised in machine learningthat can show positive economic
results.” x“
Our objective is to turn
Luxembourg into a kind of
HQ for data owned bycompanies. We want to bringenormous amounts of data
here, process it and create
information with real
economic value.”

Jean-Marie Spaus, HPC Project Coordinator,
Ministry of the Economy

34

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Finance
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15, rue du Fort Bourbon

L-1249 Luxembourg

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36

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O NAs a major banking centre,
Luxembourg has spentdecades building up
expertise in protecting
confidential information and creatinga climate of trust. Cybersecurity has
been high on the government agenda
for the past 20 years. The intention is
not only to help companies andcitizens protect themselves against
increasingly sophisticated cybercrime, but also to strengthen the
public’s confidence in the country’s
digital environment and turncybersecurity skills and infrastructure into a real economic asset.

HappenA secure hub
for data

19—
20

An important legacy from thecountry’s history as a leading
financial centre, cybersecurity
is a cornerstone of Luxembourg’s
data-driven economy. As thedigital sector expands, so does
the market for cybersecurity
solutions.

At the international level, Luxembourg is widely recognised as acentre of excellence in cybersecurity
and a trusted data hub. Estonia
opened the world’s first digital
embassy here in 2018 to store
valuable, sensitive government
information, and Monaco is in theprocess of opening the second one.
Luxembourg also stands out for its
involvement in a series of European
pilot projects launched in early 2019
to strengthen cybersecurity researchand coordination across the EU.
It is the only country to participate
in three out of the four projects.
A culture of sharing
Providing companies with hands-

Photographs by Jan Hanrion and Patricia Pitsch (Maison Moderne)

CYBERSECURITY“Multiple players with complementary skills form a mature ecosystemfor cybersecurity,” says François Thill,
Director of e-Commerce andInformation Security at the Ministryof the Economy. The players include
around 150 companies as well as
specialised government bodies. The
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security,
Reliability and Trust (SnT) of the
University of Luxembourg and otherpublic research centres carry out
high-level research in the field.

37

A high number of Luxembourg
organisations are connected to themalware information-sharing
platform MISP, where 1,000
companies worldwide provide input
about threats and attacks. “This is
a complete game changer as participating companies are not limited

to relying on their own logs to see
what is going on, but get an overview of the occurrence and natureof wider malware threats andcampaigns. Authorities can alsouse MISP to identify cybersecurity
tendencies and launch awarenessraising activities to improvecompanies’ resilience to threats.”
Mr Thill is also keen to promote
the democratisation of cyber risk
management. “Identifying risks
and developing strategies to reducethem is extremely important for
any company with a digital dimension, and it also represents a big
challenge,” he points out. “Mostcompanies, in particular SMEs
without specific expertise in thefield, have difficulties estimating therisks and their consequences. We
support them by bringing together
national experts able to come up
with a structured risk evaluation
as well as a probability and impact
assessment of main threats. This
information can then be sharedwithin the business community.”
Cyber insurance:a new market
With the increasing awarenessaround cyber risks, the demand forsolutions is growing. “The cyber­security market in Luxembourg
is well established and offers a lotof business opportunities andpotential partners,” says Pascal
Steichen, CEO of Securitymadein.lu,
a public entity helping private >Top left:
François Thill
Bottom right:
Pascal Steichen

FA C T S

31%
The percentage oforganisations thathave experienced
cyber attacks on
operational technology infrastructure.
(Source: Cisco)

600%
The increase ofInternet of Things
attacks in 2017.
(Source: Symantec)

Happenon tools that help them increase
their level of cybersecurity is agovernment priority. “Softwaredeveloped by Luxembourg’s public
sector CERTs – Computer Emergency Response Teams – is madeavailable to the national andinternational community via open
source,” says Mr Thill. “We arealso actively sharing information
about cyber threats.”

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20

38

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N

companies manage the cybersecurity
aspects of their digital transformation.
A new market niche under development is cyber insurance. In addition
to insuring organisations against
the effects of cybercrime, it also has
a positive effect on the generallevel of cybersecurity. “Companies
will obtain an insurance if they fulfil
certain security criteria. This meansthat insurance companies will beable to play the role of an informal
regulator of cybersecurity issues, inparticular in the SME community.
SMEs may count on the emergency
support teams of their insurer,”
Mr Thill explains.

HappenThe Ministry of the Economy has
been actively involved in shaping
insurance companies’ interest in
the cybersecurity market, and afirst Luxembourg insurance firmis launching a dedicated policy
for SMEs this year. “This newniche also means that insurancecompanies are becoming interested
in investing in cybersecurity
firms. They need to connect
themselves with experts who canhelp their clients avoid disasters,”
Mr Thill adds.

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Managing digital identities
Luxembourg was the first to develop
a highly reliable system for digital
identification, and is also one of thefirst countries to implement theEuropean regulation on electronic
identification and trust services forelectronic transactions on the EU’s
internal market (eIDAS). The
adoption of this regulation makes it
possible for citizens from other EU
countries offering eIDAS compatible digital identifications to conduct
secured internet transactions in
Luxembourg with their national ID.
An important step for a country

LUXEMBOURG
CY BERSECURIT YECOSYSTEM
74 
companies
with cybersecurity asa core business

24%

304
22%

Companies

68 
start-ups
represent more than 20% of
the national cybersecurity ecosystemwith a high number of cross-bordercommuters.
A new and extremely importantfield in the data economy, however,is the removal of identifiable
information from personal data.
“Much of the most precious datafor innovation is related to humanactivities,” Mr Thill points out.
However, the storing and use of
personal data is subject to very strict
rules specified in the EU’s General
Data Protection Regulation(GDPR). “Privacy is a basic humanright, and I don’t see the GDPR asa hindrance but as a guide for doing
things properly and gaining thetrust of your customers.”
Companies that have collectedvaluable data related to their clients
can only share it with others if it has
been properly anonymised. “There
are of course technical solutions
for doing this, but the challenge is
to make the anonymisation sustainable over time,” says Mr Thill.
“When combined with other data
series, including new attributes,
re-identification of individuals may
become possible.”39

DIVERSIFIED SOLUTIONS
Luxembourg companies mainly specialised in risk
identification and systems protection

In order to provide an attractive
environment where companies canlink their own data with accessible
data lakes in full GDPR complianceand process it through the HPC,
the next step is to create a kind of
virtual, secure and controlledlaboratory for handling data. “Thiswould allow companies to provide
access to their anonymised data fora fee without risk of violating therights of their clients due to very low
and controlled risk of re-identification. We would be able to analysein advance what data series are to
be linked, determine the potential
impact on privacy and make surethat there is no exfiltration of datathat might be harmful for people or
the companies making it available,”says Mr Thill.

50% Protect

Source: Mapping by Luxinnovation and Securitymadein.lu

8% Detect
9% Respond
4% Recover

TOP 7
SOLUTIONS
Cover 60% of
the national
market .Asset4
management

 .Governance,
1risk &
compliance2.Identity& accessmanagement

 .Data3
security

5.Penetration
testing

6.Backup& storage

7.Awarness& training

Determined to create an excellent
environment for companies to workwith data in a trustworthy manner,
Luxembourg is now focusing on
the development of a certified
service for the pseudonymisation
and anonymisation of data thatis fully compatible with GDPR.
The ambition is to gain theofficial approval of the National
Commission for Data Protection
and of the European Data
Protection Board.
Secure data lakes
Luxembourg’s intention is to couple

the high-performance computer(HPC) under developmentwith major data lakes
containing valuable raw data.
The country is already home toone of the world’s largest data
lakes for space data analytics.
With support from the
Luxembourg Space Agency,
leading space-to-cloud analytics
company Spire Global has
launched an open source data lakethat is accessible free of charge
to all start-ups, research
institutes and public agencies in
Luxembourg.

Potential for start-ups
There is ample room for new
entrants in Luxembourg’s expanding
cybersecurity ecosystem. “We arestill looking for everything related
to the data economy, i.e. companies
in the fields of cybersecurity
linked to big data lakes, high-capacity communication and so on,”says Mr Thill. “There is also a lotof potential for security operation
centres, threat hunting and intrusion
protection systems.”
This expertise can be enhanced byinternational companies or start-ups.
“Our market is mainly service
oriented, so start-ups developing
new products are welcome,” says
Mr Steichen. “There is also a highdemand for experts in areas such as
artificial intelligence, fintech andHPC.” As in many other countries,
the need for specialised humanresources exceeds the supply.
“Fortunately, our country has many
attributes to attract great talent,”
concludes Mr Thill. x

Happen

29% Identify

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40

D ATA- D R I V E N I N N OVAT I O N

3 QUESTIONS FOR
Marina Guérin-Jabbour
Head of Digital Innovation Hub,
Luxinnovation
Why was the Luxembourg Digital
Innovation Hub, or L-DIH, set up?
The omnipresence of digital technologies and data is completelytransforming the way we do business,and the government is determined
to position Luxembourg as a leading
digital economy. The L-DIH is oneof the tools that will turn thisstrategic ambition into reality.

HappenWhat is the key added valueof the L-DIH?
Our main task is to identify andmatch companies with external
resources, but our role goes far
beyond that. Firstly, we help ourclients determine what form theirdigital transformation will takeand what processes and technologies
they need. We also assess theirdigital maturity and analyse how
it can progress further. As digitalisation radically changes the competitive landscape of many sectors,
we then identify new competitorsof which they need to be aware.
Finally, we help them develop strategic plans for how to succeed inthis rapidly evolving environment.

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In addition, the L-DIH offers solution providers excellent opportunities to present their offering toindustrial partners and potential
clients, in Luxembourg or abroad.
As the hub is part of the Digital
Europe programme, we also serve asa relay to European institutions.

“
Our role is to help
companies succeed
with their digitaltransformation.”

What results do you want to see
in order to consider the L-DIH
as a success?
We will be successful if we are
involved in the major digital transformation projects of customers
from the early stages to the implementation. Another key indicator
is whether companies come back to
us after our initial meeting to ask
for further support with the next
steps. We also hope to provide companies and solution providers with
opportunities to expand their activity across our national borders.
Industry 4.0 is a major priority
in Luxembourg. The ultimate goalof the L-DIH is to participate inboosting the national economy inthis field and to influence thedigitalisation of other sectors.

x

About L-DIH
Managed by Luxinnovation, the
L-DIH helps companies find theright experts, advisors and IT
solution providers to defineand succeed with their digitaltransformation. The Ministryof the Economy, employers’
association FEDIL — The Voiceof Luxembourg’s Industry andLuxinnovation are its core
partners, and collaborate with
the University of Luxembourg,
the Chamber of Commerce andthe Luxembourg National
Research Fund.

Photograph by Patricia Pitsch (Maison Moderne)

Our role is to provide companies
with personalised services inorder to help them succeed with
their digital transformation andenhance their competitiveness.
We will match them with IT service
providers with the most relevant
expertise. In addition, we will
provide access to technology
platforms, prototyping solutions
and financial advice, as well as
training and skills development.

41

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Strategies forthe digital era
Favourable framework conditions
for the successful use
and protection of intellectual
property are crucial in thedata economy.

Digital technologies are indeed agame changer for traditional
industries. Take smart, autonomous
cars as an example. Automotive
manufacturers specialised inbuilding efficient vehicles will needadvanced software, communication
technologies and so on to maketheir cars self-driving. This is notnecessarily their main field ofexpertise, and they might have to

set up partnerships or licencing
agreements with digitalcompanies that own the IP for
these technologies.
A strategic asset
Understanding how to develop
large, strategic IP portfolios istherefore essential. “Take IP
aspects into account from the very
beginning of every development
process – when you reach theend it might be too late,”
Mr Kaufhold advises. “Keep yourfindings secret until you havespoken with competent experts
and decided if, and how, yourIP should be protected.”
However, protecting digital IP
can be challenging. “Onemuch-discussed question is how far
it is possible to patent software,”says Mr Kaufhold. “And to whom
does the copyright of an invention

made by artificial intelligencebelong? For the time being, no one
has the answer to such questions.”
Showing the way
The Intellectual Property Office isin charge of the framework andinstruments offered in Luxembourg
to help companies protect their IP.
The office also helps companies
find answers to complex questions.
“We don’t have specialists foreverything, but we know whereto find them,” Mr Kaufhold points
out. “Our involvement in international IP organisations alsoenables us to point you to expertsthat can at least help with finding
the beginning of an answer.” xHappenI

ntellectual property (IP)is a key consideration in
the growing digital
economy. “IP-intensive
industries contribute over 45%
to Luxembourg’s GDP, and thefastest growth rate of IP filing canbe seen in digital enabling technologies such as 3D manufacturing
and artificial intelligence,” says
Lex Kaufhold, who heads
Luxembourg’s Intellectual
Property Office.

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42

SM A RT MOBILIT Y

Mobility:
smart,
autonomous,connected
Digest:HappenA renowned centre for international
automotive companies, Luxembourg is focusing on the huge
opportunities for developing new
mobility solutions brought bydigitalisation. The country is home
to an increasing number of innovative mobility start-ups, and attracts
international innovators such as
Silicon Valley-based 3D-mapping
and localisation specialist Civil
Maps that is opening its European
headquarters here. In order tofacilitate the development of
automated and connected driving,
Luxembourg has, together withFrance and Germany, created across-border digital testbed open to
all companies and researchers

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working on automated driving andrelated services. The Universityof Luxembourg’s InterdisciplinaryCentre for Security, Reliability
and Trust (SnT) is the first Luxembourg user, and benefits from the
testbed to trial cross-border
automotive shuttles in collaboration
with French and German partners.
New mobility services can also
be tested on the emerging Mobility
Innovation Campus, a 14 hectare
campus welcoming both start-ups
and well-established automotive
companies that want to be partof a community characterised bycollaboration, synergies and open
innovation. x

Texts by Lena Mårtensson >Photograph & Illustrations by Maison Moderne

FranceHigh-speed zones,
tunnels, tolls

43

500
Luxembourg is partof Europe’s largest
international
automotive network
covering the Grand Duchy
as well as neighbouring
regions in Belgium,
France and Germany.
It consists of over 500
automotive companies,
including seven OEM
manufacturing plants,
which together create
more than 150,000 highly
qualified jobs.

CROSS-BORDERDIGITALTESTBED FOR
AUTONOMOUS
AND CONNECTEDDRIVING AT
A GLANCE

Luxembourg

Real-life conditions
including roadworks and otheroccurences

Germany

Dudelange
SchengenMerzigThionville
Saarbrücken

215km of publicroads andmotorways spanningparts of France,
Germany andLuxembourg

High traffic density
during peak hours

3 international
border crossings

Uninterrupted
cellularnetworks

Happen

Metz

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44

SM A RT MOBILIT YPILOT PROJECTS

Enabling the widescale transformationof mobility
Several unique test sites in
Luxembourg are open tocompanies that develop nextgeneration mobility solutions
for the European market.

T

Happenhe impact of digitalisation
on mobility is monumental. Smart, connectedvehicles are becoming areality, self-driving cars are underdevelopment and new concepts
such as car sharing are already inplace. New players are entering themarket alongside the establishedautomotive industry, bringing
with them experience from othersectors such as communications,payment methods and data management and processing.

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This evolution is also reflected in
Luxembourg. Known for decades as
an automotive centre with companies like Goodyear, IEE, Carlex,
Delphi and CEBI International, thecountry today also hosts an increasing number of innovative mobility
start-ups. “New companies includ-ing, for example, car-sharing
provider ExaMotive, electric scooter
producer Ujet and e-payment
specialist Mercedes Pay, are selling
across the European market, andwe are attracting international
start-ups such as Civil Maps,” says
Jean Schiltz, Deputy Director ofSmart Mobility at the Ministry of
the Economy. “Our own needs todevelop and deploy new mobility
solutions is a strong driver.
Luxembourg is an attractive test lab
as we are ready to put new initiatives into practice in order to solve
our daily mobility problems.”
Automated driving
across borders
Automated and connected driving
might become a useful alternative
for mobility in the future, but
making it function in different

countries is a challenge. Automatedvehicles need to be able to manage
local differences such as roadmarkings and traffic signs. They arealso dependent on uninterrupted
connectivity, which is complicatedto achieve when driving across oralong national borders with frequentchanges between mobile networks.
To help overcome these challenges,
Luxembourg, France and Germany
have created a cross-border digital
testbed for automated and connected driving. “The testbed is aninnovation platform open to allcompanies and researchers working
on automated driving and related
services,” says Christian Tock,
Director of Sustainable Technologies at the Ministry of the Economy. “It has generated a lot ofinterest from international players

45

The testbed consists of over 200 km
of motorways and public roads,
soon to be covered by 5G connectivity. “Due to legislative restrictions and liability risks in Europe,
most of the development work with
self-driving vehicles is done atclosed R&D facilities, but theirnext step is to be out there on theroads,” says Joost Ortjens, Headof International Business Development – Automotive at Luxinnovation. “When this takes place, thetestbed will be extremely useful.”
In order to facilitate the use of the
testbed, the government is working
with its French and German

counterparts to set up mutually
recognisable testing authorisations
that will be valid in the whole
testbed region.
A campus for open
innovation
Another hotspot for the sector, theMobility Innovation Campus, istaking shape in Bissen, located 20
minutes north of Luxembourg City.
Extending over 14 hectares, thecampus will host start-ups as well as
well-established automotive companies. Sensor technologies specialist
IEE has already relocated its activity
there, and Goodyear will soon follow
suit with some 130 staff members
focusing on the development ofadvanced mobility technologies.  >SELF-DRIVING
Scientists from the University of Luxembourg have turned
a Kia Soul into a self-driving vehicle.

SnT

MOBILITYRESEARCH FOR
INDUSTRY
Websiteuni.lu/snt

The University of Luxembourg’s
Interdisciplinary Centre for
Security, Reliability and Trust(SnT) is the first Luxembourg
organisation to conduct tests
on the cross-border digital
testbed.
“The cross-border scenario
allows us to test theautonomous capabilities ofvehicles we have developedon public roads in threedifferent countries withvariations in traffic signs,
connectivity and so on,”says Raphaël Frank, researchscientist at the SnT.
“We collaborate with French
and German partners in a
European project aimed at
testing cross-border
automotive shuttles.”The SnT is strongly orientatedtowards industrial projects.
Having collaborated withtraditional automotive players
such as Delphi and IEE for
several years, the centre isincreasingly being approachedby companies from the IT sector
that develop mobility
applications. “We also workwith insurance company Foyer
Assurances on how they canadapt their insurance products
once we have semi-automated andautomated vehicles on theroads,” confirms Dr Frank.
“There is a huge future market
for self-driving cars andrelated services, and we areinterested in doing relevant
research with industrial
partners from Luxembourg andabroad.”xHappendeveloping mobility solutions for
the European market.”

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46

SM A RT MOBILIT Y“We want to create a location wherecompanies are able to collaborate,
leverage synergies and build atrue community on a lively sitecharacterised by open innovation,”comments François Knaff, Director
for Industry at the Ministry of the
Economy. “We hope that start-ups
will partner with more maturecompanies and provide new technologies and know-how. We also
aim to develop partnerships with
universities and research centres
to bring students and professors to
the site.”

HappenA large collective building withincubator facilities as well as sharedmeeting rooms, a canteen and an
events centre will be built in thenext few years. Temporary offices
for start-ups that want to move in
immediately are already available.
The campus itself will also be
used for showcasing new technologies. “POST Luxembourg has
selected the campus as one of fivepriority locations for installing 5G,
so companies can develop applications and projects using 5G connectivity directly on site,” says Mr
Knaff. “The University of Luxembourg has already started to conduct
autonomous driving tests here.”

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Processing big data
The collection, storing andprocessing of large amounts of datais central to smart mobility andautonomous driving. With its
top-level data centres and highspeed connectivity, Luxembourg isparticularly well placed in thisarea. “Companies will shortly beable to use our high-performancecomputer to analyse data,” Dr Tockpoints out.

Luxembourg is also one of five EU
member states participating in
the “Data for Road Safety” proof
of concept project recently launchedby the EU Data Task Force toimprove road safety by sharing
data generated by vehicles andinfrastructure between countries
and manufacturers. Luxembourg
will manage, process and aggregate
big data from Germany to be
used for issuing safety-relevant
traffic information to road users.
“The collaboration builds on
Luxembourg’s strengths in
high-quality data transmission,
hosting and valorisation services,”
Mr Schiltz underlines.
Central but independent
Luxembourg’s geographicalposition offers another advantage
for mobility solution developers.
“It is a neutral location situatedin-between two major automotive
markets, namely France andGermany,” says Dr Tock. “Wealso work a lot with large automotive manufacturers in Europe,
but we take a neutral stand in
our relations with them.”“Luxembourg is particularlyinteresting for companies thatwant to be close to leading
German automotive industry
players,” Mr Ortjens continues.
“Luxembourg is close enoughto really understand the needsof the market, but still withenough distance for start-ups toretain their independent,
innovative mindset.” x

Civil Maps

“A TRUESTART-UPSPIRIT”
Websitecivilmaps.com

Silicon Valley-based start-up
Civil Maps has developed ahigh-definition, 3D mapping andlocalisation solution enabling
autonomous vehicle routing.
“Our lightweight Fingerprint
Base Map technology localises
vehicles with exceptional
accuracy in a way that is
efficient and cheap, while only
requiring limited capacity fordata storage and processing,”
explains CEO Stefan Safko.
The company is currently
setting up its European
headquarters in Luxembourg.
“European players are not only
catching up with North Americancompetitors in the field ofautonomous driving, but
actually starting to spearhead.
This has triggered us to take avery close look at the European
market. We have mapped several
cities in Europe for large
companies that are using ourtechnology for their fleets ofautonomous vehicles. We lookforward to start mapping
Luxembourg and the area coveredby the cross-border testbed in
the coming months.”
Many factors brought Civil Maps
to Luxembourg. The country’s
proactive approach to bringing
talent into the mobility sector,
as well as support available
to help a new company quickly
solve practical issues suchas office space, bank accounts
and VAT number are allimportant factors. “There isa true start-up spirit here thatenables young companies toiterate very quickly andflourish.”

x

48

S TA R T- U P S

STARTUPS…

THE MAJORITY OF THE
LUXEMBOURG START-UPS
ARE ACTIVE IN THESE
KEY ECONOMIC SECTORS.

Cleantech

Digest:Luxembourg’s economic history has
given the country ample abilities toadapt to challenges and changing
economic framework conditions.
In other words, its way of thinking
is similar to that of a start-up.
This is probably its main strength
when it comes to attracting young,innovative companies.

HappenOver the past few years, a performing start-up ecosystem has patiently
been built up. It is now matureand one of the cornerstones of thecountry’s ambition to implement
a data-driven and sustainableeconomy. The Fit 4 Start acceleration programme is one of the key
elements. Organised twice a year

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Texts by Jonas Mercier >Illustrations by Maison Moderne

and open to both international andLuxembourg start-ups, it offers
specialised coaching to help
entrepreneurs identify theirstrategic development needs andgrowth potential. The vision driving
the initiative is to provide solid
support to start-ups in their growthand international expansion bypooling together all the capabilitiesof the players in the local ecosystem.
Luxembourg is thus positioning
itself as a hub for European expansion, and the country can alreadyshow some very impressive successstories. The following pages are an
introduction to what Luxembourg
can offer for start-ups. x

ICT

49
Cybersecurity

Healthtech

FintechMobility

Logistic

Big Data

Indutech50
A brand for an
innovative ecosystem52
A multitude ofchallenges

Space

55
“Developing synergies
with incubators abroad
is a priority”
56
They made it from
Luxembourg
58
Creating theright atmosphere foreach start-up

HappenCreative Industries

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50

S TA R T- U P S

STARTUP LUXEMBOURG

A brand for an
innovative ecosystem
To cement its position as an
attractive location for start-ups,
Luxembourg relies on easy accessto support, major international players and publicauthorities and administrations.
At the same time, the country
is a clear gateway to theEuropean market.

I

Happenn today’s data-driven digitalworld, success depends on
the ability to adapt. Overthe last decades, Luxembourg has been continually opening
up to new ideas, innovating andreinventing its economy by constantly adapting to economic
framework changes and challenges.
The economy has been growing
steadily, continuously outperforming the EU average.

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A digital nation
driving growth
After developing a powerful steel
industry at the end of the 19th
century, the global crisis that
affected this sector in the 1970s
induced Luxembourg to becomea major financial centre. Morethan 20 years ago, Luxembourg
earmarked the importance of
information and communication
technologies (ICT) for the success-ful diversification of its economy.
Major infrastructure investments
have resulted in extensive broadband
networks, ensuring international
connectivity, and state-of-the-art
high-end data centres. Today, newtechnologies and innovation are still
driving the country’s economy andthe digital agenda is a priority forthe government. “We have always
been able to think in a similar way
to start-ups,” notes Michele Gallo,
Director of ICT Coordination at the
Ministry of the Economy. “Developing Luxembourg‘s data-driven,
trusted and sustainable economy is achallenge we are ready to take on.”Initially developed to support
Luxembourg’s flourishing financial,broadcasting and space sectors, therapidly growing ICT industry has
enabled other key business sectors
to thrive. This includes life sciences,automotive, clean technologies,

fintech and logistics, all highly
connected to and dependent on
ongoing best-in-class ICTdevelopments. One of the latest
initiatives is the investment in abusiness-oriented high-performancecomputer (see page 32).
Connecting international
business with Europe andthe world
Numerous multinational companies
have established their worldwide orEuropean headquarters in Luxembourg alongside well-known local
companies. The development of thestart-up ecosystem was a natural next
step from which the country focusedon its main asset, a dynamic andinternational business-oriented
environment. Multilingual, multicultural and diversified, Luxembourg
can be leveraged by start-ups as an
ideal test market to develop concepts
and test new products and services.

51

Germany, Luxembourg has always
valued international cooperation.
Entrepreneurs who have chosen theGrand Duchy to grow their start-ups
know this better than anyone else.
The Chinese fintech PingPong
decided 2 years ago to settle in
Luxembourg in order to enter theEuropean market. “Here in thefinancial hub of Europe, we received
great support from the local regulators, banking partners and access tothe vast talent pool available to support
our growth,” says Aaron Shuai Lu,
co-founder of this e-commerce start-up.

Solidly rooted,
naturally innovative
Luxembourg’s reliability anddynamism go hand in hand with its
spirit of openness. People from morethan 175 nationalities live here –one of the greatest resources of theopen and outward-looking country– and around 70% of the workforce
is made up of foreigners.

The country’s well-known commercial and political neutrality also
helps to facilitate good international
business relationships. “Being basedin Luxembourg gives us morecommercial neutrality than if wewere located in one main market
and makes it easier to break intoanother one as a foreign company,”says Mauro Mariani, the founder ofOply, a start-up that provides
urban mobility solutions. Created in2016, the company currently
operates nearly 450 vehicles in thecities of Munich and Berlin.

Openness is also a key componentof the country’s economic development. Nestled in the heart of Europe
between Belgium, France andStartup Luxembourg
gaining visibility
Since the creation of the country’s
first incubator Technoport in 1998,

Mauro Mariani,founder, Oply“
Being based in
Luxembourg gives us morecommercial neutrality
than if we were locatedin one main market.”the start-up landscape has beenenriched with numerous public
and private initiatives. In addition
to hosting facilities, Luxembourg
also offers a wide range of
support services for young
entrepreneurs, including those
provided by Luxinnovation, theHouse of Startups and the
Luxembourg House of Financial
Technology (Lhoft), the main
driver of innovation for financial
technologies.
Many private players have joined
the ecosystem over the years.
Today, Luxembourg has about
fifteen incubators and accelerators,
funding support for each stageof maturity and dozens ofdedicated start-up events. “We havealways worked to build a complete
ecosystem able to meet all theneeds of innovative start-ups,”
says Jean-Michel Ludwig, Directorof Business Development at
Luxinnovation.
The joint efforts of the Ministryof the Economy and privateorganisations have led to a strong
and continuous growth of thestart-up ecosystem. The next
step is to increase the international
visibility and recognition of
the ecosystem through all digitalchannels and build an identityof its own. This is why the
initiative “Startup Luxembourg”
was launched by the Ministryof the Economy and Luxinnovation,with the dedicated website
startupluxembourg.com. Startup
Luxembourg is now present on
Twitter (@StartupLu), Facebook(@StartupLux) and LinkedIn(Startup Luxembourg) to provide
start-ups with ongoing news
about the ecosystem and dedicatedevents. x

Happen“Luxembourg offers numerous
support mechanisms for start-ups,
and we are able to provide personalised support to each start-up,”confirms Stefan Berend, Head ofStart-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation. “This is a competitive edge,
which differentiates us from otherlarger start-up hubs – and you canfeel this spirit, as soon as you comehere. The ecosystem’s many established international companies,
eager to partner with innovative
start-ups, are close at hand too.”Contacts are direct and facilitatedby several initiatives, such as
the Luxembourg Open Innovation
Club (Loic), which organises
meetings on specific topics between
corporates and start-ups.

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52

S TA R T- U P SACCELERATION PROGRAMME

Happen19—
20

PhotographFunding is often seen as the key tounlock a start-up’s ability to
expand but it takes more than that.
Fit 4 Start, Luxembourg’s acceleration programme managed by
Luxinnovation, offers high-quality
coaching to put start-ups with highpotential on the road to success.

Luxinnovation / Marie De Decker

A multitudeof challenges

53

Entrepreneurs from all over theworld apply to Fit 4 Start, withthe possibility of securing an
attractive equity grant being oneof the main attractions. However,after starting the programme,
they quickly realise that thehigh-level coaching is what reallymakes a difference. “The money isof course helpful, but what was
really important was to develop ourbusiness knowledge,” says Caner
Dolas, co-founder of Gamma
AR who participated in the spring2019 edition. This originally
German start-up is developing
an augmented reality tool for
construction companies that allows
visualisation of all the elementsof a building using 3D models.
“In our team we are all engineers,and Fit 4 Start definitely helped us
improve our business skills.”
The ability toquestion yourself
Coaching has been the central
element of the programme fromthe very beginning. Luxinnovation
pays particular attention to the
choice of coaches and jury members,

who also function as mentors.
The level and complementarity of
their expertise is essential. “Thestrength of our programme is thatit combines group sessions withcoaching that is personalised andadapted to each start-up,” explains
Luxinnovation’s Fit 4 Start
ICT coordinator Laurence Hulin.
The objective of the coaching is tohelp the entrepreneurs identify theirstrategic development needs andgrowth potential. During several
working sessions, the start-ups areinvited to reflect on all elements
necessary to put together a businessplan, to assess the viability of theircompany and to consider the time
it will take them to find thenecessary partners and funding.
“I have been working with start-ups
for almost 20 years, and I havenoticed that very few entrepreneurs
really know their clients,” says
Michel Blumenthal, one of thecoaches. “Fit 4 Start significantly
helps start-ups to position themselves on the market and get aclear idea about what their clients
really want,” adds Jean-Yves Hergott, an investor and entrepreneur
who was part of the jury fromthe 8th programme edition.
The Fit 4 Start coaching is very
intensive, and the participants’
openness to listen to the advice
provided by the coaches and jury
members, as well as their ability
to question themselves, iscrucial. “We were permanently
being challenged,” remembers
Kevin Muller, CEO of corporate
password management specialist
Passbolt who participatedin the 4th edition of Fit 4 Start.
“As an entrepreneur, you havea lot of preconceived ideas.
It was very useful to discuss with  >FA C T S

1
	acceleration programme
dedicated to highpotential start-up

2
	
editions per year3	verticals — ICT,
healthtech and space	up to30

	start-ups
selected per year16	
w eeks of experts
coaching€150K
	grant (maximum)

www.fit4start.com

HappenT

he Fit 4 Start concept is
simple: participants get fourmonths of coaching, accessto a collaborative workspace, a grant of up to €150,000 andthe opportunity to connect to theentire Luxembourg start-up ecosystem. The acceleration programme,
which started in 2015, initially
focused exclusively on ICT start-ups.
The success of the first editions
encouraged the Luxembourg
government to open it up in 2018
to the field of health technologies,
and in 2019 to the space sector.
More than one hundred start-ups arepreselected every year to pitch to aselected jury in Luxembourg.

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54

S TA R T- U P S

Jean-Yves Hergott, jury member,
Fit 4 Start edition #8“
Fit 4 Start signif­
icantly helps start-ups
to position themselveson the market.”Happensenior investors and entrepreneurs
who questioned even minor
details of our strategy.”

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Space on the radar
For the first time since the launch of
Fit 4 Start, the 2019 autumn edition
offers tailor-made support to five
start-ups active in the space sector.
Capitalising on its status as aEuropean pioneer in the development of commercial activities inspace, Luxembourg decided to open
the acceleration programme inthis sector. A particular focus isplaced on the downstream sectorof value-added applications andservices derived from space-based
data, sometimes combined withdata from other airborne, in-situ
or social network-based sources.
Selected Fit 4 Start participantsalso benefit from a premium accessto the Luxembourg Space Agency
data centre, which contains datafrom the Sentinel 1 and Sentinel
2 Earth observation satellites of theEuropean Copernicus system.

Ume“A SUPPORTIVE
ENVIRONMENT”
Websiteume.solutions
FoundedFebruary 2017
ParticipatedFit 4 Start 2017 autumn edition

In addition, they can request accessto the data lake (storage repositorythat holds a vast amount of raw
data) of the spacetech company
Spire Luxembourg. A real advantage
for start-ups looking for data todevelop their services.
In just a few years, Fit 4 Start has
grown significantly and become
renowned well beyond
Luxembourg’s borders. Nearly
300 start-ups from more than
50 different countries competed
to be part of the 2019 autumn
edition. 20 start-ups wereadmitted – 10 from the ICT
sector, 5 active in healthtech
and 5 in space. “Luxembourg’s
multicultural and multilingual
culture is a crucial aspect that
attracts start-ups wishing to
expand on the European market.
The very good relationship thatexists between all Luxembourg
players also helps them quickly
find good partners and funding,”
concludes Ms Hulin. x

Laurent Denayer, CEO of ume:
“As a founder, you may feelthat every single thing you
are doing is risky. This
includes the product you offer,
the market in which you enterand the concept that you
sell. The risk of failure isconstantly on your mind andyou want to minimise it.
For a start-up to be successful,
aspects such as marketing,finance, operations, productdevelopment, pricing, market
positioning and resource
management also need to beconsistently managed andadequately combined.
We wanted to take advantage ofthe years of wisdom accumulated
by mentors to launch ourstart-up and not reinvent thewheel. We also wanted to bechallenged in our entrepre­
neurial vision and consider
alternative approaches.
Fit 4 Start provided us witha collaborative and supportive
environment to help us identify
the gaps in our business plan
and work on reducing them. We
were encouraged to proactively
take on risks, manage themefficiently and have bigger
ambitions.
Today, ume is self-funded andgrowing at a double digit
rate. It covers most of its
costs, has a footprint in morethan 65 countries and isconsidered as one of the 100
most innovative regtechs in
the world.”x

55

3 QUESTIONS FOR
Diego De Biaso
CEO, Technoport Incubator
As the CEO of Luxembourg’s oldest
incubator, you have witnessed thedevelopment of the start-up ecosystem almost from scratch. Do you
believe in an integrated European
start-up ecosystem?
Yes, I strongly believe in it,
although not many of us think thatway yet. Technoport is one of 150
certified members of the European
Business and Innovation Centre
Network, and we can see that only
a minority of our colleagues share
our vision of a joint European
start-up ecosystem. However, thenumber has been growing in recent
years. I think it would beparticularly useful for start-ups
that have already left the starting
blocks and need to scale up.

x

Photograph

How do you see the Luxembourg
ecosystem in 5 years from now?
I think there will be further consolidation. As the context evolves
and we gain additional knowledge,
some initiatives will disappear
while others emerge. If we continue
this way, Luxembourg will become
internationally renowned as a solidand increasingly attractive ecosystem for entrepreneurs from Asia,
the United States and other partsof the world looking to penetrate
the European market.

Happen“Developing synergies
with incubators
abroad is a priority.”

How is the Luxembourg start-up ecosystem positioning itself in Europe?
We have advantages that cannot befound in other countries. Factors
such as the solid government support
to entrepreneurship and innovation,
the proximity of players and themany opportunities to test new technologies in real conditions alreadyattract numerous start-ups fromabroad. We clearly have the potential to be a central hub in the
global European start-up ecosystem.

Luxinnovation / Marie De Decker

We have a small domestic market,
which encourages our start-ups toaim for international expansion
very quickly. Developing synergies
with incubators abroad is apriority for us. We establish personal relationships with colleagues
in other countries who can help
when entrepreneurs ask us for support with entering new markets.

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56

S TA R T- U P SFROM START-UP TO SCALE-UP

They made it
from Luxembourg
Today they are international,
employing hundreds of people andgenerating revenues of millions ofeuros. However, they all started
in Luxembourg with just a brilliant
idea and a lot of enthusiasm.

MyScienceWork
Founded: 2010

Happenmysciencework.com

19
—
20

The start-up has designed a personalised online app for booking
medical appointments, dependingon the language, speciality andlocation of the doctor. Foundedin 2013, Doctena has managed to
become leader in its field in six
countries – Luxembourg, Belgium,
the Netherlands, Switzerland andGermany. The company currently
employs 90 people and organises 1.4
million appointments per month.

MyScienceWork promotes easy
access to scientific publications,unrestricted diffusion of knowledge
and open science. Its databaseincludes more than 90 million
scientific publications and 12
million patents. Founded in 2010,
the start-up, which has opened
offices in Paris and San Francisco,
proposes a data mining solution
to analyse the scientific production
and an innovative open source

solution for archiving data. “Luxembourg has been a key location forentrepreneurship for us, due to thenumerous opportunities for financial
aid available. We benefited
from a lot of them and this helped
us grow, recruit and start our
American adventure,” says CEO
and co-founder Virginie Simon. x“Luxembourg was the ideal place
to serve as a proof of concept, witha much lower investment than
if we had had to do it in a big city
like London or Berlin,” says founderand CEO Patrick Kersten. x
DoctenaFounded: 2013
doctena.lu

57Founded: 2014
jobtoday.com

Governance.com was founded in2014 with the objective of easing andkeeping under control the numerous
regulated processes the financial
industry is facing. Its revenues havemore than doubled for 3 years in arow. Today, the start-up serves over
20 financial institutions based in
Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland,
the UK, Ireland and the US.
“Luxembourg counts a vibrant,
professional and growing financial

Talkwalker
Founded: 2009
talkwalker.com

sector, with hundreds of top international banks and fund managers,”
CEO and co-founder Bert Boerman
points out. “To connect theseindustry players with young
innovative businesses, Luxembourg
has made a major effort to build
an ecosystem of support mechanisms,
such as co-working spaces, accelerators and government support
programmes.” xFounded in 2009, Talkwalker has
developed a tool for the monitoringof the promotion, optimisationand protection of brands andtheir reputation on social networks.
The company currently employs
more than 240 people and has
opened five offices outside
Luxembourg – in New York, San
Francisco, Singapore, Frankfurt
and Paris. Its artificial intelligenceprogramme monitors 150 million

ing environment for start-ups andwill continue to be an importantpart of our DNA,” confirms Eugène
Mizin, co-founder and CEO. x

Governance.com
Founded: 2014
governance.com

brands all over the world. “There is
no better place to start a businessthan Luxembourg. There is very
little bureaucracy and it is particularly thanks to the support wehave received from the governmentand start-up incubators that wehave managed to grow so quickly,”says Robert Glaesener, CEOof Talkwalker. x

HappenJob Today

Founded in 2014 by two Russian
residents of Luxembourg, Job Today
is currently market leader in…
Spain and the United Kingdom.
The start-up has developed a hiring
app connecting job seekers with
the nearest employers looking
for candidates. It has until now
raised €41 million and manages
a database of 5 million candidates.
Job Today currently employs 50
people. “Luxembourg is a welcom-

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58

S TA R T- U P S
1PORTFOLIO INCUBATORS

Creating
the right
atmospherefor eachstart-up

HappenStart-ups ideallyrequire tailor-madeoffices adapted totheir needs. Whether
it is the oldest
incubator in the
country or the mostrecent one, the wide
offering of premises
for start-ups in
Luxembourg provides
something for everyone.
A brief overview.

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—
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Photographs by Jan Hanrion,
Patricia Pitsch (Maison Moderne) /Tomorrow Street / Paul Wurth

3

59
2

1.TOMORROW
STREET
This public-private
initiative helps
start-ups to scale.

2.HOUSEOF STARTUPS
Hosts four incubators,
one of which
focuses on financial
technologies.

4.PAULWURTH INCUB

5.LUX
FUTURE LAB

Focuses on innovators
in industrial
technologies

Managed by a bank,
it is open
to all sectors.

3.TECHNOPORT5

The country’s
oldest incubator
hosts innovative
and technologybased start-ups.

Happen

4

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60

S U P P LY C H A I N 4 . 0

LOGISTICS
AND SUPPLYCHAINMANAGEMENT
62
The digital
futures

66
Transforming
supply chain services

Text by Marine Mombelli
and Lena Mårtensson >Illustrations by Maison Moderne(inspired by Mc Kinsey)

001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010
010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110
010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110
001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010
001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100
010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010010011001010011001101010101001
110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010
010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010

HappenSupplier

19—
20

Continious
and adaptive
optimisationof production
capacity

Factory

Real-time visibility
on location andcondition of each
shipment

61

Digest:Digitalisation, e-commerce andIndustry 4.0: these three words are
more important than ever. Morethan just buzz words, these new
trends, which are generated by thedevelopment of new digital technologies, will strongly impact operations in the main sectors of the
Luxembourg economy. They will
have a major influence on logistics
and supply chain management

activities, a field that is essential
for trade and economic development. Digital technologies suchas artificial intelligence, theInternet of Things and automation,
coupled with big data, are alreadyreshaping processes along supply
chain networks and logistics
activities. This development also
paves the way for predictive data
analytics that bring huge improve-ments in terms of demand
forecasting, inventory
management, real-time end-toend transparency and route
optimisation planning. Logistics
companies that strive to keep
up with digitalisation can counton the efforts of Luxembourg,
which has made digital logistics
and supply chain managementa government priority. x

Promotions
Prices
Sales
Weather
Traffic
Product
EventsSupply chain control
tower providing
end-to-end visibility

Predictive
analytics

End-to-end
performance
management

CUSTOMER CANDECIDE TO RE-ROUTE
THE SHIPMENT
010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110
OF HIS ORDER
010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110

001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010
001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100
010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100
110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010
010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010
010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001101010101001100101001100110101010100110010100110011010101010011001010011001

Warehouse

Sharing of capacities

Influencing
customersby specific,
situational
offering

Predictive shipping
Custumer
HappenAutonomed
warehouse
with robots
doing pickingof goods

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62

S U P P LY C H A I N 4 . 0

LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

19
—
20

CFL Multimodal

Globalisation has largely influenced
the operations of logistics service
providers for decades. Today, it istime for them to embark on the journeyof digital transformation.

PhotographHappenThe digital future

63T

he logistics sector iscontributing significantly
to the Luxembourg
economy. The country’s
main assets include notably its
central location in Europe, a modern
logistics infrastructure, an innovative local ecosystem and thepresence of major logistics service
providers managing distribution
centres for third parties.
Logistics 4.0
Just as digitalisation has radicallychanged the way we consume witha simple click of a button, Industry
4.0 will strongly influence theway logistics operations and supply
chains are managed. In order forcompanies to successfully embrace
this evolution, they need to movefrom linear supply chain management to a more interconnectedmodel where information flows
seamlessly between all stakeholders
involved. Connectivity andinteroperability of data are key.
“Over the past decade, logistics
service providers in Luxembourg
have successfully adapted to thechanging global environment bycontinuously moving up the ladderof the value chain. They offer
dedicated services for special cargosuch as pharmaceuticals or online
purchases, for example,” explains
Daniel Liebermann, Director of
the Logistics Directorate at the
Ministry of the Economy. In orderto strengthen its position asa prime logistics hub in Europe,
Luxembourg is determined tosupport companies in succeedingwith their digital transformation.
Towards customer-centric
supply chains
With the rise of e-commerce andthe emergence of the on-demand
economy, supply chain management
is becoming more complex. “Nowadays, consumers expect convenientand personalised delivery services.
They are no longer the last link in
the value chain, but an essential partof it,” says Mr Liebermann. The
higher expectations of private clients
have set new standards along thewhole logistics value chain. Digitalsavvy business customers now expect
similar services. Another major
challenge is end-to-end supply chain
visibility, covering the whole processfrom procurement to final delivery– and, when applying >

CHAMP & CARGOLUXDIGITALISING
THE LOGISTICS
CHAIN
Websites
champ.aero | cargolux.com

Air cargo requires specificdigital tools tailored tobusiness needs. CHAMP is aleading supplier of integrated
IT solutions to the airfreight
community. These are primarily
offered as Software-as-aService, running in Luxembourgbased data centres and accessedworldwide via the internetor dedicated networks.
Cargolux, Europe’s largest
all-cargo carrier, is in the
midst of a profound digitaltransformation. Cargolux
relies on CHAMP to manage
its operational and financial
flows. In parallel, it runs
a number of in-housedigitalisation projects,
including:
TEAM (Turnaround Evaluation& Analysis Management):
A digital solution to monitor
and analyse all elements inaircraft turnarounds in order
to identify potential delay
factors. The outcome allows
all stakeholders involved to
optimise their work.
eCRM: The digitisation of
paper-based CRM (cargo movement
requirement) to reduce paper
waste and administrative costs
and optimise trucking processes
at the Luxembourg Cargo Centre.
Digital sales: A centralised
tool to manage price andcapacity requests and optimise
how the company’s capacity issold on the market. The
platform includes all elements
required to provide a priceoffer, such as origin,destination, product requests,
services, and availability.

xHappenDaniel Liebermann, Director,
Logistics Directorate,
Ministry of the Economy“The ‘holy grail’ of
supply-chain management
today is predictive
analysis.”

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64

S U P P LY C H A I N 4 . 0

REDSPHERA DIGITALLOGISTICS
PLATFORM
Websiteredspher.com

Redspher combines technology
and logistics know-how todeliver goods faster andsmarter. Its starting point isthat there is no limit to what
digital technologies can offer.
“We wanted to kill distances
and turn logistics into acompetitive advantage. That’s
why we created a digital open
platform that simplifies andfacilitates on-demand delivery,”explains COO Ignacio Tirado.
The platform gives clients asingle entry point to seamlesslogistics solutions provided
by a network of different
service providers. “We do not
only help our clients finda transport solution, but thebest transport solution.
We put it in place, track it,
audit it and even enablee-invoicing.”
Present in 19 countries, thecompany has chosen Luxembourg
as its base. “I’m originallyfrom Chile, and Luxembourg gave
me a visa when no one else
would. The country is becoming
a hub for logistics and digital
innovation and we are glad tobe part of this movement,” says
Mr Tirado. Redspher has also
benefited from R&D andinnovation subsidies. “Thegovernment support was very
appreciated. What we do as
Redspher would be impossible to
do without digital means. It’s
like trying to imagine Amazon
without the digital dimension,
it would not exist!”
Happenx

19—
20

the principles of the circular
economy, even beyond. An increasing number of companies
are looking to set up “supply chain
control towers” to monitor andmanage their global supply chains.
It is no longer enough to use
real-time data obtained throughthe Internet of Things just to track
and trace goods – it needs to beturned into useful information.
“The ‘holy grail’ of supply chain
management today is predictive
analysis,” says Mr Liebermann.
Predictive data analytics
Big data analytics make logisticalprediction possible on an unprecedented scale. While the day-today business can be managed withreal-time monitoring, predictive
data analytics allows operators
to become proactive.
“With big data coupled withartificial intelligence, we cananticipate the impact of unforeseen
events or external occurrencessuch as natural disasters. We aremoving towards logistics solutions

that are more agile, more responsive
and increasingly connected to theneeds of the end customer,”
explains Mr Liebermann. Knowledge about how to forecast demand,
predict disruptive, unforeseen
events and take informed decisions
on how to react is thus becoming
a key strategic asset for companies.
A supportive ecosystem
Luxembourg’s strategy for datadriven innovation includes anumber of key initiatives targeting
logistics companies. The government’s ambition is to turn Luxembourg into a next-generation
logistics 4.0 hub, where establishedlogistics service providers consistently use digital technologies andnew companies find a favourable
ecosystem. The sector can benefit
from innovation funding schemes
and cooperation with publicresearch institutes. “We strongly
encourage public-private collaboration,” confirms Mr Liebermann.
“Companies that want to embark
on a digital transformation will not
be left on their own.” x

FA C T S

700
The approximate numberof logistics companies
in Luxembourg.
Together, they employ
around 13,000 people.
(Source: Ministry of
the Economy)

1.1bn
The annual contribution of thelogistics sector interms of added value
to Luxembourg’s GDP.
(Source: Ministry of
the Economy)

66

S U P P LY C H A I N 4 . 0

LOGISTICS OPERATORS

Digitalisation strongly impacts
logistics operations and supply
chain management. For many of theleading companies in this field,
it challenges the traditional
way of working but also opens
completely new opportunities tocreate value and improve
competitiveness.

D

Happenigitalisation is a prime
concern for numerous
logistics service providers
present in Luxembourg.
Global logistics company Kuehne +Nagel and rail freight and logistics
service provider CFL multimodal
are among of them.

19
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20

Data at the core
With almost 130 years of experiencein the logistics business, Kuehne +Nagel started to invest early in
its IT-driven supply chain management capabilities. Additional
investments have allowed thecompany to become a so-called leadlogistics provider (4PL), capableof managing not only its clients’complete supply chain but also
aspects such as resources, techology and infrastructure. “Ourlogistics management services
integrate highly developed automation and other digital systems,”

says Tobias Jerschke, managing
director for Kuehne + Nagel in
Belgium and Luxembourg. “We
work with our own global networkor with other logistics providers andcan assure each party that theirdata is managed confidentially.”
Kuehne + Nagel’s Luxembourg
hub manages the operations ofboth national customers andcorporations shipping goods acrossthe world. “The role of a global
logistics company is to coordinate
customers, partners and authorities
in a compliant and qualitative
manner. A wide range of data –financial information, logistics
data, weather forecasts and congestion data, for example – flows
through our systems. It is at thevery core of our business,”
explains Mr Jerschke. “We use it
to develop completely new services,such as predictive analytics using

Photograph by Kuehne + Nagel

Transforming supply
chain services

67

Bridging the gap
CFL multimodal is also undergoingdigital transformation. A subsidiaryof Luxembourg’s national railway
company, it offers a broad service
portfolio that includes combined
and conventional rail freight aswell as customs clearance, forwarding and logistics services. Historically orientated towards relying
on traditional systems to maintaina maximum level of security,
the railway sector is lagging behindwhen it comes to digitalisation.
A delay that CFL multimodal isdetermined to catch up. Over the
past few years, the company haslaunched innovation activities
aimed at preparing for futurechallenges, identifying andtesting new opportunities and,in particular, avoiding being
confronted with a potential
disruption of the sector.
Several digitalisation initiatives
are under way. “One of the best
examples is the deployment of
our tracking solutions forintermodal trains,” says Marc
Valette, director for innovationand continuous improvement.
By introducing solutions based on
the Internet of Things, the company
can now follow the movementsof its international trains in realtime, compare their actual movements to predicted timetables
and detect any abnormal behaviour.
Automatic alerts allow operators
to focus on managing such issues,
which considerably improves theservices provided to customers.
Value creation
Other projects are being
developed in fields spanningfrom human resources toautomatic controls powered byartificial intelligence. The focus
is on collecting data related toprocesses and equipment, butalso to storage and handling
operations. The challenge is thento find ways of exploiting andbenefiting from this data.
“Digitalisation is not an end in
itself, it can bring real value
and should not only be seen as
way to reduce costs,” Mr Valette
underlines. A point of viewthat Mr Jerschke shares: “Datascience and digital innovation
are transforming supply chain
operations from a cost factor into
a competitive advantage.” x

VODAFONEDIGITALCAPACITY,INNOVATION
AND TALENT
Websitevodafone.com

For the past 11 years,
Luxembourg has been home tothe procurement operations
of Vodafone. The centre
serves 24 Vodafone entities
all over the world. The company
is also in the process ofestablishing its centre of
excellence in logistics anddeveloping digital logistics
solutions here.
“Our first realisation is adigital control tower thatallows us to track and monitor
the location and movementsof all our network equipment
worldwide in real time from
Luxembourg,” explains Tolga
Tomruk, Director of SCM
Global Operations at Vodafone
Procurement Company. The
company is also developing
a blockchain-based logistics
application.
The next generation ofVodafone’s strategic suppliers
is hosted at Tomorrow Street,an innovation centre run
jointly with Luxembourg’snational incubator Technoport.
Vodafone also conducts joint
research projects withthe centre for logistics andsupply chain management at
the University of Luxembourg.
“The closeness to theuniversity, and the growing
community of companies thatare starting logistics andprocurement activities here,
makes it easy for us to findtalented people and growour business in Luxembourg,”
says Mr Tomruk.

x

Happenvirtual reality and artificial intelligence to anticipate issues thatwill occur in the near future.”
These new developments are often
carried out in partnership with
innovative start-ups.

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68

LU X E M BOU RG SU PPORT A BROA D

Local door
openers for
DIPLOMATIC
AND
ECONOMICNETWORK

BUSINESS

HappenFacilitating global trade isa key focus of the different
players in Luxembourg’s
diplomatic and economic
network. Its members work
hand in hand to ensurethat doing business with andfrom Luxembourg is easy,transparent, and brings
with it numerous advantages.

19
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20

Text by Sue Hewitt and Lena Mårtensson >Photographs by Ministry of the Economy /from
Gouvernement.lu

69“
Europe and China are
two fast growing
regions representing
the commercial spacedevelopment frontier.”

Shufan Wu, Executive Dean, Schoolof Aeronautics and Astronautics
in Shanghai

In close collaboration with the
diplomatic network, the Ministryof the Economy coordinates eight
Luxembourg Trade & Investment
Offices (LTIOs) in high-potential
markets in the US, Asia and the
Middle East. A ninth office is in
the process of opening in Morocco.
In addition, three economic
advisors attached to embassies inIndia, Turkey and Brazil andseventeen foreign trade advisors
enhance Luxembourg’s economic
promotion and support channels.
The Chamber of Commerce has
economic counsellors stationed at
the embassies in Belgium, Franceand Germany.
An ideal launchpad
The LTIOs promote business
opportunities in Luxembourg intheir respective geographic
regions and support Luxembourg
companies that want to develop
their activities abroad. A key focus
is to assist companies that wish to
expand their business to Luxembourg and enter into the European
market. They also facilitate trade
between their host countries
and Luxembourg.
Working in close collaboration with
the Ministry of the Economy, theChamber of Commerce and thenational innovation agency,
Luxinnovation, the LTIOs can
support companies with generaland sector-specific businessinformation, tailor-made visiting
programmes and practical help withsetting up a company in Luxembourg. Together with the embassies
and consulates, they can also assist
companies in gaining access tohigh-ranking government officials
and other key contacts.
In addition to this customised
support, the LTIOs promoteinteresting initiatives such as thestart-up acceleration programme
Fit 4 Start (see page 54) to relevant
companies. Several LTIOs havealso used the yearly tech conference
ICT Spring to encouragecompanies to come and see what
Luxembourg has to offer. Attracted
by the networking possibilities andperfect setting to find new business
opportunities, a record numberof start-ups from around the world
travelled to the event in 2019.
The LTIO in Tokyo has been
actively attracting start-ups to ICT
Spring since 2012. “We try to
attract Japanese start-ups that areinterested in Europe in order to  >HappenLuxembourg benefits from a
broad network of representatives worldwide that can
support companies in doing
business from, and with the Grand
Duchy. The diplomatic and consular
network, under the authority of the
Ministry of Foreign and European
Affairs, provides advice and on the
spot assistance to promote international trade and identify opportunities for economic cooperation.
Spread across the globe, the network
currently includes 37 diplomatic
missions as well as around 150
general and honorary consuls. To
further bolster its plans to diversify
the Luxembourg economy andensure the flow of information withembassies and honorary consuls, theministry has also appointed anambassador in charge of economic
diplomacy.

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70

LU X E M BOU RG SU PPORT A BROA D

Michal Kiezik, Business Developer, EAGLYS“Luxembourg’s location
at the heart of
the EU simplifies
potential access tomarkets across Europe.”
position Luxembourg as a hub toenter the European single market,”explains Executive Director
Yuriko Matsuno. “Investors suchas bitFlyer and ispace joined theevent before deciding to establish
offices in Luxembourg.”

HappenExploring the market
Five Japanese companies joined in
2019. One of them, EAGLYS,

19
—
20

won the cybersecurity category of
the “Pitch Your Start-up” contest
that is part of the event. “As our
products are oriented aroundcybersecurity with broad
applications in banking and fintech,
we decided to explore Luxembourg,a well-known hub for the global
financial sector,” says the company’sbusiness developer Michal Kiezik.
“Luxembourg has an immensely

advanced data infrastructure and athriving and competitive telecommunications industry. In addition,
its location at the heart of the EU
simplifies potential access to markets
across Europe.”
Opened in 2006, the Consulate
General and LTIO in Shanghai
have established solid contacts with
Chinese companies active in theinnovation and new technologies
sector as well as with the mainincubators in the Shanghai region.
The office has also used its network
to successfully target Chinese techcompanies and encourage themto discover Luxembourg via ICT
Spring. “This year, China was well
represented,” confirms Luc Decker,
Consul General and Executive
Director of the LTIO. “And thisis only the beginning.”
Mr Shufan Wu, Executive Deanof the School of Aeronautics and71

Astronautics in Shanghai, sums up
his experience: “Europe and China
are two fast growing regions representing the commercial space development frontier. For us, this event wasvery impressive in its scope andcontent.” James Chou, MD and CEOof incubator Microsoft for Start-ups
North Asia, points out that “bothMicrosoft for Start-ups China andour portfolio of start-ups got good
exposure to the European market”.

The LTIO in Seoul partnered withlocal Korean innovation agencies
to attract 11 start-ups to ICT Springin 2019. As a follow-up, during
an economic mission to South Korea
in May the same year, Luxinnova-

tion and KISED (Korean Instituteof Start-up and Entrepreneurship
Development) signed an MoU at astart-up event attended by Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of the Economy, Étienne
Schneider. The agreement provides
for greater collaboration between thetwo entities to support the development of the Korean and Luxembourg start-up ecosystems and toassist start-ups wishing to develop in
one of the two countries.
Cracking the US market
The LTIOs in San Francisco and
New York were instrumental in
helping Luxinnovation set up
accelerator programmes for Luxembourg high-tech start-ups to establish
a foothold and be successful on the
US market. In San Francisco, a
6-day start-up school was organisedin conjunction with investor andaccelerator Nex Cubed. A Benelux
Catalyst event, a 4-week collaborative
programme for aspiring start-ups
from Luxembourg, Belgium andthe Netherlands, took placein New York.
Where diplomacy
meets business
The economic and diplomatic
network is also there for Luxem-

bourg companies looking to
explore and export to foreign
markets. They can notably counton the ongoing support and expertise of the International Affairs
department of the Chamber ofCommerce. One example is theregular matchmaking event“Business Meets Diplomacy”,
organised during the diplomaticconference uniting the heads of
missions of the diplomatic
network in May 2019. The event
hosted 158 meetings between local
companies and 45 ambassadors,
consuls general and trade andinvestment officers. ODL, Luxembourg’s export credit agency, also
took advantage of the occasion
to present the array of financial
incentives available to Luxembourg
businesses for promoting products
and services globally.
In this way, Luxembourg’s diplomatic and economic network is able
to leverage local synergies and work
to provide hands-on advice andsupport to investors, exporters,
established companies and start-ups
alike, to maximise success of
Luxembourg businesses at home
and abroad. x

HappenStrategic partnerships
To further increase Luxembourg’sinternational reach, the economic
and diplomatic network plays acrucial role in creating long-term
strategic partnerships with key
organisations abroad that help local
companies expand internationallyand take advantage of Luxembourg
to reach the European market.
The Skolkovo Innovation Center is
one such partner. This scientific andtechnological centre currently hosts
over a thousand start-ups andestablished innovative companies.
The Embassy of Luxembourg in
Moscow, represented by the ambassador himself, actively contributed
to the establishment of a long-term
collaboration formalised througha Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) signed between Skolkovo
and Luxinnovation. Subsequent
events were organised at Skolkovo
to present the economic landscapeand opportunities offered by
Luxembourg to Russian companies.
Luxembourg’s size and the easeof doing business were at the heartof the discussions.

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72

MEET THE DECISION-M A K ER S

Life

in

L U X E M B O U R GHappenPeople make places and Luxembourg
is no exception. To prove it,
we spoke to five foreign company
executives about how they are
helping shape the country’s
business landscape, why it’s thebest place to be for innovation
and why the Grand Duchy is a greatplace to live.

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Texts by Jean-Michel Gaudron > Photographs by Jan Hanrion

73

Cédric Spaas• Founder and CEO, Arspectra• From Belgium• Living in Luxembourg
since spring 2018

After having lived in the three neighbouring countries (France, Germany
and Belgium), Cédric Spaas, 31,
created his company specialised in
3D augmented reality for the medical
sector in Luxembourg. “We wereattracted by the start-up ecosystem
and its acceleration programmes suchas the Fit 4 Start for healthtech
companies. In our field, we must bevery responsive and rely on quick andeffective networking.” He thus appreciates the ease of establishing national
and international business relationships
while being based in Luxembourg.
The Museum of Modern Art (Mudam)
located in the middle of the Kirchberg
business district is one of his favourite
places. “I love its light and its
serene and modern aspect. The beautyof simplicity.” xHappenMore on video:
tradeandinvest.lu/cedric-spaas

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74

MEET THE DECISION-M A K ER S

Corinne Lozé
• CEO, Orange Luxembourg• From France• Living in Luxembourg
since February 2019

After almost five years spent developing the Orange network in Central
Africa, Corinne Lozé took over the
management of the French telephone
operator’s Luxembourg subsidiary at
the beginning of 2019. “Luxembourg
is a very dynamic country,” she says,
having been greatly impressed with its
open and cosmopolitain nature. “It’seven better than I thought!” In a very
competitive telecom market, “businesshere is exciting, especially with
5G projects and all the innovations
associated with such initiatives”.
A lover of wide-open spaces, Mrs Lozé
likes to walk in the Mullerthal region
in the east of the country, “a particularly beautiful landscape and a greatplace to unwind”. xHappenMore on video:
tradeandinvest.lu/corinne-loze

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75

Piero Cavigliasso

Piero Cavigliasso, 55, came from Italyat the end of 2016 to start-up the
Luxembourg R&D centre of the Guala
Closures Group, world specialist inwine and spirits bottle caps. He settled
down with wife and 3 girls eightmonths later. He found a fulfilling
environment there. “The main aspect
I appreciate is the high level of organisation in the public sector and public
services. This is probably the maindifference with my beloved Italy. I also
like the good attitude of most people,
all focused on doing things rather thancomplaining about things that are notdone.” One of Mr Cavigliasso favourite
spots in the city of Luxembourg isthe spectacular panoramic elevator(65 metres) in the Pfaffenthal district“A modern place in the historic centre.
I like this ‘symbolic’ mixture of
tradition and modernity.” xMore on video:
tradeandinvest.lu/piero-cavigliasso

Happen• Group Innovation Technology Director,
Guala Closures Group• From Italy• Living in Luxembourg since 2017

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76

MEET THE DECISION-M A K ER S

Marie-Hélène Massard• CEO, AXA Luxembourg• From France• Living in Luxembourg since 2012
Arriving in Luxembourg in 2012 after
five years in Poland, Marie-Hélène
Massard discovered “a country on ahuman scale, with a lot of dynamism
and the will to reinvent itself to remaincompetitive”. Chief Executive Officer
of one of the country’s leading insurance companies and Chair, for two
years, of the Luxembourg associationof insurance companies, this 46year-old Frenchwoman was able toappreciate the quality of public-private
partnerships in Luxembourg:“they work well and are a catalyst forbusiness innovation and growth.”
She likes the Place de la Constitution“and the very beautiful view from thefoot of the Gelle Fra (“Golden Lady”)
statue, a woman who symbolises
freedom and resistance.” xHappenMore on video:
tradeandinvest.lu/marie-helene-massard

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77

Genna Elvin

After leaving her native New Zealandat the age of 22, Genna Elvin landed
in Luxembourg in 2012 and discovereda country full of charm. “It’s very
central, unlike my home country, andthe business landscape is very favourable to start-ups,” she says happily. “Andthe Belval site is very exciting: you
can find everything you want there,
in a superb setting.” As co-founder ofTadaweb, a growth-phase start-up
specialising in the automation of datasearch processes on the Internet, sheparticularly appreciates the country’s
multicultural environment. “You cancome from anywhere, and most people
are fluent in English, which reallyfacilitates contacts. Luxembourg isreally a forward-looking country, readyto make the necessary changes”. xMore on video:
tradeandinvest.lu/genna-elvinHappen• Co-founder TadaWeb, 7 years• From New Zealand• Living in Luxembourg since 2012

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78

I N N OVAT I O N

It happened 1stin Luxembourg
While others talk, Luxembourg
acts. An audacious solution
for having less cars on
the road, blockchain
experimentation and a newcertification for biobanking:Luxembourg leads the way.

Microbiome components
identification
IBBL (Integrated BioBank of Luxem­
bourg), an autonomous non-profit­
institute that supports biomedical
research for the benefit ofpatients, is the first biobank in
the world to be accredited forthe identification of microbiome
components. Its method makes it
possible to identify, not only asingle bacterium, but the entire
bacterial population of a sample ofany type. This gives scientists acomprehensive and reliable overview
allowing them to progress in theirresearch.

Texts by Jean-Michel Gaudron > Illustrations by Maison ModernexFree public transport
The media around the world,and even the American
Senator Bernie Sanders,have announced the news:
as of 1 March 2020,
national public transport(trains, buses and tram)
will be completely freethroughout the wholecountry of Luxembourg.
The same applies to busesin the City of Luxembourg.

xHappenA public blockchain

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After becoming home to the first e-embassy in the world, Luxembourg
once again proved to be a forerunner in May 2019 with the creationof a blockchain for the public sector. According to Marc Hansen,
Minister Delegate for Digitisation, this project makes it possible
to experiment and develop a series of new applications enabling
interaction between the public and private sectors. “This firstexperience will help us better understand the opportunities andadvantages offered by this technology. Above all, it is essentialthat we equip ourselves with the means to take advantage ofblockchain technology and develop technological and legislative
expertise that will be very useful to us in the future,” explained
Mr Hansen.

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