Luxembourg is constantly developing and aspires to become a smart, innovative, sustainable and vibrant city. According to a recent STATEC study, Luxembourg’s population is expected to reach nearly one million by 2050. Highly international and multicultural by nature, the city has 120,000 inhabitants and nearly 300,000 people come here every day to work. This unique situation raises various questions related to economic development, respect for the environment and mobility. Finding innovation urban solutions has therefore become a priority.
In order to stimulate projects in the field of smart cities, LOIC launched a call for applications targeting companies interested in these topics. No less than 31 start-ups from Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland responded positively to the club’s invitation. In the end, 10 of them were selected to present their innovative technologies for making cities smarter.
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Relayed by the Luxinnovation teams, this call for applications was disseminated via the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). “We offered LOIC the opportunity to use the EEN network and its database containing more than 6,000 qualified profiles,” explains Arnaud Duban, Head of SME Performance at Luxinnovation. “This is how two of the ten companies, German 5micron and Siut, were able to discover of the call and be selected to pitch to the club members.”
5micron specialises in systems using light for the localisation and communication between objects. The Berlin-based start-up Siut has invented and patented an innovative composite material that integrates light-conducting optical fibres. CityLity, EnergyElephant, Bim-Y, Moovee, Parquery, MyMedBot, Cityrama and Zero1 complete the list of selected start-ups.
LOIC’s added value lies in its ability to facilitate exchanges and help companies find the right partners to initiate collaborative projects. “Thanks to the EEN network, we have been able to expand the scope of our research, both geographically and technologically. This is a fruitful cooperation that shows the wide scope of the network, and the importance of working together to facilitate the access of companies to the start-up ecosystem,” explains Émilie Bechet, Corporate Innovation Manager at LOIC.
Anyone interested in benefiting from the international partner search service of the EEN-Luxembourg network is welcome to contact Luxinnovation.
