3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
technologies; and strong support vehicles (public funding, Industry oriented public research)
are made available by the public institutions with the ambition to create industrial eco systems.
However, several weaknesses have to be taken into account: Decline in private investment in
research; limited collaboration culture which is fragmented and individualistic (public and
private); weak public opinion of (dirty) industry; missing critical mass in sectoral value chains;
absence of seed venture capital for industry; and research is currently too focused on
fundamental (theoretical) research instead of applied research, linked to industrial needs.
There are several possibilities ahead. Focusing on multi-company research may benefit more
than one company and allows for the sharing of research infrastructure, the joint development
of key enabling transversal technologies and profit from joint staff appointments (e.g.
development of mathematical models that can be shared with several stakeholders). Research
does not necessarily need to be related to product development, but other topics of common
concern such as solutions for more energy efficiency or common manufacturing technologies
can be the fruit of a common research project that may benefit the industry on the whole. The
potential of cross-sectoral cooperation may be quite easy to activate in Luxembourg as most
industries are not in direct competition with each other. This common approach is also
interesting from a financial point of view as it allows one to use the available resources more
efficiently. There is an equally important opportunity to capitalize on public funds offered by
Europe.
More Public Private Partnerships will be key. Luxembourg will have to find a common
denominator that reflects the diversity of its industry and their scientific and technological
needs with those of public research (align public and private research priorities). There is also a
need to scale-up investment in technological research excellence to international levels and get
the stakeholders to devote their resources to common RDI projects. Here, the question of risk
sharing is also crucial.
Common platform to test new viable business models
It should not only be about reinforcing existing industries and companies but about offering a
platform to develop new promising start-ups and new business models. The past has shown
that “waves” of disruption are regularly challenging companies in Luxembourg. Some
companies will disappear while new ones will emerge. It is therefore important to detect the
opportunities of tomorrow and help promising entities seize their chance to become a leading
actor of tomorrow’s industry.
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