ANNUAL CONFERENCE LUXEMBOURG - Taftie

ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
LUXEMBOURG

6 JUNE 2019

Register Here!

WELCOME TO LUXEMBOURG
Luxembourg is the beautiful green heartland of Europe and a strategic smart business location with
a national character of openness, dynamism, reliability. This small country has its unique history and
personality and offers much to discover.
The capital, Luxembourg City, has a history going back more than a thousand years. It was founded in 963
and counts a number of historic sites, including its former fortress (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) as well as
more contemporary sites. The city is home to several European Union institutions and is one of the capitals
of Europe, along with Brussels and Strasbourg.
Luxembourg is a major European hub of business, research and innovation specialising in fields such
as the automotive sector, clean technologies, digital technologies, life sciences, logistics, materials and
manufacturing and space technologies. Luxembourg is also one of Europe’s most important financial
centres. The country’s excellent business climate attracts a high number of international companies.
Luxembourg is an excellent gateway for the dissemination of products and services in Europe and well
beyond. The country is situated at the heart of several major European markets: 60% of the EU’s GDP can
be reached by a one-hour flight. International studies on the competitiveness of countries consistently rank
Luxembourg among the top few.
Luxembourg is exceptionally cosmopolitan and home to people of over 170 nationalities. The language
skills of the multicultural population are outstanding: fluency in three or more languages is the norm rather
than the exception. A true knowledge-driven economy, it has an exceptionally skilled workforce and attracts
talent from neighbouring countries and well beyond.
Luxembourg City offers a mixture of tradition and modernity with UNESCO World Heritage monuments,
contemporary headquarters of many European, cultural and financial institutions and numerous museums
and squares. The countryside is never far away in this verdant gem of natural beauty. Diverse and unique
landscapes are crisscrossed by several thousand kilometres of hiking and biking paths, and there is a wide
range of leisure and sports activities. Luxembourg’s vibrant cultural life includes art, music, dance, theatre
and much more performed by world-class artists.

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LUXINNOVATION CHAIRMANSHIP PRIORITIES

PRIORITIES

              Inclusion                                               Interaction and learning

              Innovation ecosystems                                   Implementation issues

SPECIFIC FOCUS

i.   Collect key learnings of TAFTIE members in a white paper to be entitled “State aid considerations when
     developing innovation ecosystems – A perspective of innovation agencies”
ii. Improve the documentation and back-up of all TAFTIE activities

TOPICS

Scaling start-ups, including relationships between innovation agencies and incubators – 7 February 2019
Innovation advisory services – Exploring synergies between innovation agencies, clusters, the European
Investment Bank and the European Commission – 25 April 2019
Mission-oriented research and innovation: What does it mean for innovation agencies? – 6 June 2019.
Annual conference
The role of innovation agencies to foster knowledge and technology transfer – 3 October 2019
Digital Europe – Role and opportunities for innovation agencies – 28 November 2019. Policy forum

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LUXINNOVATION
Luxinnovation is the national innovation agency of Luxembourg. It encourages and supports companies to
innovate and to grow, whilst facilitating their collaboration with public research players. Luxinnovation offers
a wide portfolio of services to companies and public research organisations in order to foster innovation,
thus supporting the Government’s economic development objectives.
The agency also ensures that Luxembourg continues to attract international investment, companies and
skills that are a perfect fit for the country.
Luxinnovation is a public-private partnership composed of the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry for
Higher Education and Research, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, the Luxembourg Chamber of
Skilled Crafts and FEDIL – The Voice of Luxembourg’s Industry.
The agency provides services to companies in four specific areas:
Company relations and support / Cluster Initiative
Luxinnovation’s cluster managers build and reinforce
networks of companies and public research
organisations to foster collaboration and to set up joint
projects in the field of R&D and innovation.
R&D and innovation advice
Luxinnovation’s advisors provide expert guidance to
companies and public research organisations with regard to national
and European R&D and innovation funding opportunities that best suit their
R&D and innovation strategies. Luxinnovation advises on the most appropriate
instruments and programmes and supports companies in structuring their projects and
preparing funding applications.
Company performance programmes
Luxinnovation offers different types of programmes to encourage and support companies to innovate and
grow taking into account their specific needs:
•   Fit 4 Digital – Supports the digitalisation of SMEs.
•   Fit 4 Innovation – Improves the competitiveness of SMEs by strengthening their organisational
    performance.
•   Fit 4 Circularity – Evaluates the potential of companies to apply circular economy concepts.
•   Fit 4 Service – Improves customer satisfaction and customer experience.
Start-up acceleration
Luxinnovation provides information on Luxembourg’s business environment to innovative start-ups as well
as individual support to gain access to private and public funding. It includes tailor-made acceleration tools,
such as the Fit 4 Start programme, which offers early-stage funding and coaching to start-ups ready to launch
their products or services, and the Young Innovative Enterprise instrument for international growth.

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6 JUNE 2019 – ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MISSION-ORIENTED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN
FOR INNOVATION AGENCIES?
VENUE — BOURGLINSTER CASTLE

13.30 - Welcome
Ian Cresswell, Chairman
13.40 “Innovation, grand challenges and dynamic capabilities in the public sector”
Pr. Rainer Kattel - Deputy Director Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London
Q&A
14.10 “Mission oriented R&I policies: lessons learned and the role of national innovation systems and
agencies”
Robbert Fisher – Managing Director – Joint Institute for Innovation Policy
Q&A
14.40 “How the Research Council of Norway implemented missions at the level of the Agency: key
learnings”
Anne Kjersti Fahlvik - Executive Director – RCN (The Research Council of Norway)
Q&A
15.10 “Bidirectional approach of making strategy in NEDO/Japan”
Kentaro Morita – Director General, Global Technology Research Unit – New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO, Japan)
Q&A
15.40 -16.00 - Coffee Break
16.00 Round table: experiences of innovation agencies in terms of mission
oriented research and innovation
• FFG Austria (Sabine Mayer, Strategic advisor)
• SPIRIT Slovenia (Irena Meterc, Head of Department)
• RVO Netherlands (Joost Koch, Senior advisor)
• Luxinnovation (Benjamin Questier, Strategic advisor)
• NRDI Office Hungary (Istvan Szabo, Vice President)
•   Moderation: Pascal Fabing (Luxinnovation)
17.15 “How policy experimentation can be used to implement
mission-oriented research and innovation?”
Albert Bravo-Biosca (Director) and Teo Firpo (Senior Researcher), Innovation
Growth Lab, Nesta
17.45 Conclusion
18:00 – Cocktail reception

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Venue

Annual conference – 6 June

The annual conference will take place at Bourglinster castle, an 11th century castle, located approximately
15 km from the city of Luxembourg. It is one of the most beautiful castles in the country. The castle is 15
minutes away by taxi from the airport.

www.bourglinster.lu

Taxis can be expensive in Luxembourg; we strongly suggest the use of the app webtaxi (affordable taxis in
Luxembourg): www.webtaxi.lu

You can plan your bus trip and check the schedule on www.mobiliteit.lu

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THIS IS LUXEMBOURG
Area: 2,586 square kilometres
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg extends from north to south over a maximum distance of 82 km and 57
km from east to west.
Population: 602,000 inhabitants (1 January 2018), of whom 48% are foreigners of more than 170
nationalities
Head of State: HRH Grand Duke Henri
Head of Government: Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister, Minister of State
Languages: French, German and Luxembourgish.
English is widely spoken
Currency: Euro
Country code (telephone): +352

LUXEMBOURG INFORMATION
Luxembourg City Tourist Office: www.luxembourg-city.
com
Visit Luxembourg: www.visitluxembourg.com

 TAFTIE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

     TAFTIE Chair                 TAFTIE Executive Secretary                   TAFTIE Treasurer
       Ian Cresswell,                        Pascal Fabing,                     Marie-Hélène Douret,
Head of International Affairs,         Head of National RDI advice,             Head of Accounting,
      Luxinnovation                          Luxinnovation                         Luxinnovation

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