3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
stakeholders. Set the right incentives for the industry as a “user” and “developer” of
storage technologies. Investors could be public-private partnerships, including the main
industrial players (in their role as energy consumers). Main R&D resource for the technical
development could be start-ups developing new processes and business models (many of
them are already working on the topic). Developing approximate total investment
estimates will require the input of experts of the field (e.g. via consulting companies).
7.2 Spearhead an applied RDI joint consortium on ecologically sustainable, circular economybased
on additive manufacturing and 3D printing resources and production processes.
With strong support by the government, Luxembourg’s research institutes in manufacturing
innovation in specialized industries should expand their leadership into advanced green,
clean and sustainable AM and 3D printing processes and resource materials.
7.3 Promote Smart Building Materials, with the research financed by both private and public
funds. The construction sector has to meet very high standards as regards the energy
efficiency of buildings. Unfortunately, many of the building materials used to achieve this
goal have a poor environmental performance, as their production process is highly energy
intensive and their recycling is often troublesome if not impossible. A notable example is
expandable polystyrene (often referred to as “styropor”) used to insulate the facade of a
building. An assessment evaluating the environmental impact of the use of such a product
would reveal its negative effects relating to the volume of energy needed to produce it and
the problematic disposal of it one its life cycle has come to an end. A link can also be made
to the work of the WG “Buildings,” suggesting entirely new ways to build houses. “Legobased
architectural design concept defined (buildings that can be almost entirely rebuilt
based on the same materials, fully disassembling).” This idea is different from the one
mentioned above but it can be seen as a complementary element of a strategy aimed at
making the building process smarter. Luxembourg could create a cluster comprising both
the industrial and the construction sector as well as public research institutes to develop
and ideally produce building materials which meet, or even exceed, the required efficiency
standards while their production process is less energy consuming and which are 100%
recyclable.
7.4 Engage research faculty and students to undertake applied research initiatives such as the
BMI proposal to develop a real-time data inventory and visual mapping platform of all the
energy, water and resource consuming equipment and processes in industry. Students
and faculty gain real-world applied research experience, strengthen their aptitude and
competences, and help generate knowledge assets that other faculty and students can
build upon.
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