The 365 days of 2018 were not too long for the Luxembourg Materials & Manufacturing Cluster. On top of the 22 events organised or co-organised, the involvement of its 80 members in the various projects initiated is testimony to its dynamism.
One of the highlights of the year was undoubtedly the creation of the asbl Composite Industry Luxembourg (CIL) in February. This brings together the main Luxembourg players active in the field of composite materials and its objective is to develop collaborative research projects and promote them internationally. “Six research topics have already been defined, such as the recycling of composite materials or the development of multifunctional surfaces,” says Caroline Muller, the Materials & Manufacturing cluster manager at Luxinnovation. “The association has nine members, established firms, as well as start-ups, and we are now working on a technical roadmap for 2019.”
The Greater Region in the spotlight
The cluster’s efforts have also focused on the creation of cross-sectoral projects. Among these, we can mention the workshop organised with the Wood Cluster to facilitate interaction and possible collaboration between actors in these two fields. The main aim is to help the wood sector to digitise itself based on the experience acquired in the manufacturing sector.
Another notable cross-sectoral project, in collaboration with the Ecoinnovation cluster, is the Plastic Loop. It has been designed to open up evaluation and development paths around the flow and recycling of plastic materials in Luxembourg. First developed at the national level, this initiative has been linked to a European project involving actors from the Greater Region.
In parallel, the Materials & Manufacturing Cluster has committed to support several Interreg cross-border initiatives. One of them, in which the Luxembourg University is already involved, is the Fafil project, which focuses on additive manufacturing by yarn deposition. Another is the Prodpilot project, centered on industry 4.0 and more particularly on the identification of expertise and needs in this field at the Greater Region level.