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LIST Tech Day 2019

Tomorrow’s Technologies Unveiled at LIST Tech Day 2019

The second edition of the LIST Tech Day, held on Thursday, June 20 at the Maison des Arts et des Etudiants in Belval, shows that the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) is fully delivering on its mission to drive innovation in Luxembourg and make it an attractive place for international researchers and businesses.

The LIST Tech Day is an annual business event organised by LIST, which gathered this year more than 400 decision-makers, researchers and business representatives. It was the opportunity for attendees to learn how to get the full benefit from a Research Technology Organisation (RTO).

A successful second edition

Expectations were high after the first edition of the event in 2018. One of the centrepieces of this year’s event was the Tech Village which was composed of 20 demonstrators “made in Luxembourg” presented by LIST teams. 20 of the latest LIST prototypes as well as market-ready technologies were presented to the participants who could meet outstanding researchers and developers and discuss the breakthrough potential of new technologies in domains such as Smart Industries, Smart Cities and Smart Environment.

Among the many innovations available, attendees discovered a microscope with a world record resolution, smart dustbins, a lab on wheels able to assess local air quality, drones that can detect diseases in the vineyards, robots to create digital maps inside buildings, sensors which will be used for personalized medicine, or a software to assess floods and produce real-time maps to help public authorities react quickly.

In addition, the Tech Summit brought together renowned speakers and experts from entrepreneurship, industry and governmental institutions, all sharing insights on new trends, innovation roadmaps and the research challenges ahead. Serial entrepreneur and technology guru Peter Hinssen opened the Tech Summit with his manifest on “The Day after Tomorrow”.

Claude Meisch, Minister of Higher Education and Research said: “We need a genuine home-grown innovation culture and here LIST has its role to play. I am convinced that the mission-oriented approach of LIST as a Research and Technology Organization developing technology-intensive research-based solutions contributes very much to the development of this home-grown innovation culture in Luxembourg.”

Mario Grotz, First Government Counselor at the Ministry of the Economy, closed the event: “Today’s event has highlighted a number of projects where LIST works hand in hand with industry to develop new and innovative solutions in areas like Smart City, Smart Environment and Smart Industry. All these projects demonstrate that LIST has perfectly embraced its role as an RTO, acting as the link between academic research and industrial applications.”

Connecting the dots between research and business

The Tech Day was also the opportunity to announce and celebrate the signature of three new partnership agreements with the private sector. Two of them, signed with Blue Horizon, one of the leading space start-ups in Europe, and Probiotic Group, a company in the field of cleaning and care, will directly contribute to the set-up of the Green Tech Innovation Centre created in the framework of the Institute’s activities.

Blue Horizon and LIST committed to co-develop biological components of self-sustainable habitats, creating the necessary conditions for enabling sustainable life in space, e.g. in the framework of long-term missions to space. Together, they will also investigate the application of environmental biotechnologies to improve or restore environmental conditions in challenging environments.

Probiotic Group, as its name suggests, uses probiotics to develop cleaning and care products which are natural and eco-friendly. Probiotics are live microorganisms considered as “good” bacteria that provide health benefits as they improve or restore the gut flora. Probiotic Group will work with the University of Luxembourg (and particularly the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine) and LIST to discover, characterize and produce new probiotic strains.

The LIST’s Green Tech Innovation Centre will take further shape thanks to these two partnerships. It aims at linking the public and private sectors in order to foster the national circular bioeconomy strategy. Sectors profiting from this Green Tech Centre include construction and industry, renewable energy, organic waste, agriculture, urban farming and food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, soil remediation and water.

A third partnership agreement was signed during the Tech Day with Polygone, a Luxembourgish company specialized in the field of waste management, the deconstruction process and the setting up of modular and sanitary building solutions. Polygone and LIST agreed to collaborate on developing competencies in the field of smart waste management.

The Tech Day was the opportunity to celebrate these three partnerships but also existing ones such as the collaboration with Goodyear. These partnerships with the private sector confirm the leading role of LIST in building bridges between research and business.

Thomas Kallstenius, LIST CEO, summed up the event: “LIST Tech Day is a great way to connect decision makers and our researchers. It will help leverage our research, technology and innovation assets and contribute to the transformation of Luxembourg into a data-driven, trusted and sustainable economy together with our partners.”

Following the success of the LIST Tech Day 2019, the Institute is already looking forward to organising the next edition. In the meantime, the doors of the LIST Technology Showroom are open at the Maison de l’Innovation in Belval for visitors to discover the amazing technologies developed by LIST.

Further information: Full program of the Tech Day

Technology Teasers 2019

www.list.lu

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