The Luxembourg industry involved in the field of security and defence includes innovative SMEs, large companies and research organisations with a proven track record in strategic areas such as space, cyber, information superiority, materials and compounds, energy and environment technologies and medical response solutions. In 2020, Luxinnovation and the Directorate of Defence started to work together in order to facilitate the development by Luxembourg industry and research centres of innovative solutions to meet the needs of Luxembourg defence within NATO and the EU. “This bridge between industry and defence is absolutely crucial,” comments Luxinnovation’s CEO Sasha Baillie.
Promoting security and defence capabilities
The new convention signed provides a framework for the cooperation between Luxinnovation and the Directorate of Defence for the next three years and outlines the priority actions to be undertaken by the innovation agency. These notably include creating a security and defence industry community in Luxembourg’s priority sectors, helping the community integrate the European defence value chain and facilitating its access to the EU and NATO acquisition and innovation programmes.
This bridge between industry and defence is absolutely crucial.
“Our priorities also include supporting the national joint calls for public-private R&D and innovation projects targeting the security and defence industry, and contributing to the international promotion of Luxembourg’s defence-related technological capabilities,” explains Alexander Link, Defense Industry Coordinator at Luxinnovation. “Last year, we were part of the Luxembourg pavilion at the international defence and security exhibition Eurosatory, and we are currently preparing our participation in this year’s editions of the international cybersecurity forum FIC in Lille in April and the International Aerospace and Space Conference in Paris in June.”
Space for defence
The convention was signed by Nina Garcia, First Advisor to the Minister of Defence at the Directorate of Defence, Luxinnovation’s Board Chair Mario Grotz and Luxinnovation’s CEO Sasha Baillie in the context of the Benelux Space4Defence Industry Day that Luxembourg hosted on 24 February 2023. Close to 200 industry and defence representatives from the three countries joined together to learn about space strategies and initiatives in the Benelux and discover cooperation opportunities provided by the European Defence Agency and the European Defence Fund.
The Luxembourg security and defence community is growing, so I’m confident that there is great potential for forming new partnerships.
“As we embarked upon the mission to help Luxembourg industry and research develop their capacity to provide security and defence solutions, it became obvious that our close ties within the Benelux have a tremendous potential to increase our impact,” Ms Baillie said at the conference. “The Luxembourg security and defence community is growing, so I’m confident that there is great potential for forming new partnerships.”
Photos: © Luxinnovation/Sophie Margue
