The private sector is often presented as one of the missing pieces of the puzzle for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Since its launch in 2016, the Business Partnership Facility (BPF) has been encouraging the Luxembourg and European private sector to join forces with partners in developing countries to set up sustainable business projects in these countries. BPF is financed by the Luxembourg Cooperation and implemented by the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation (LuxDev) through its annual fund of €1 million.
Working closely together since 2020, especially in the financial analysis of project proposals, LuxDev and Luxinnovation are strengthening their partnership. As a result, Luxinnovation is now more involved in several key stages of the call for applications from companies wishing to participate in the BPF.
Luxinnovation has been supporting Luxembourg companies in their innovation projects for over 35 years. While the primary objective is to support the development and diversification of the national economy, the innovations receiving help from the agency can also contribute to solving challenges faced by partners in developing countries.
The selection of projects supported by the BPF is made through a two-stage call for applications: firstly, the submission of a concept note followed, for pre-selected projects, by a detailed proposal.
Business plan and value proposition
While LuxDev is in charge of implementing the process, the selection committee includes several stakeholder such as the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of the Economy, the Chamber of Commerce and LuxDev.
Luxinnovation and LuxDev are already working closely together on the financial analysis of project proposals and are further strengthening their partnership: eligible companies will now be offered support from Luxinnovation in preparing their detailed proposal.
This support will mainly aim at strengthening the financial part of the applicants’ detailed proposals through a reflection on their business plan and the associated value proposition. A letter of agreement for the next two years has been signed between the two agencies to materialise this collaboration.
The cooperation between two Luxembourg agencies is in line with the strategic axes of LuxDev’s vision 2030 which intends to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve the SDGs.
For Luxinnovation, this partnership is in line with one of its strategic priorities, namely encouraging sustainable economic development through research and innovation.