Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot will speak at the launch conference of the European Digital Innovation Hubs. The event is organised on 26 and 27 January by Luxinnovation, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Economy, the European Commission and the DIHnet project.
The European Digital Innovation Hubs, and the network that brings them together, are a joint effort of the European Commission and the EU Member States. They are designed to support SMEs as well as public sector and civil society organisations in their digital and green transformation.
This initiative is part of the Digital Europe plan, the first programme for a digital Europe, with a budget of some €9 billion.
In a first phase, starting in 2012, regional or national Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) were established. During the phygital event co-organised by Luxembourg (via Luxinnovation) and the European Commission on 26 and 27 January, a call for proposals addressed to these different regional and national hubs will be officially launched. It will make it possible to set up the European network which should ultimately bring together around 200 digital innovation centres across Europe.
"It is an honour for Luxembourg to host this event," explains Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation. "We are convinced that digitalisation will bring benefits to everyone – companies, research centres and individual citizens – and will improve our daily lives. This launch conference will be an opportunity to stress the importance of these hubs and the network in view of the coming economic recovery, and to refine the value propositions of each of the players involved."
More than 2,000 people, including representatives of the various DIHs already established as well as representatives of regional and national authorities, have registered. Various information and exchange sessions will be held throughout the two days.
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel will give the welcome address on Tuesday morning and the Minister of Economy Franz Fayot will introduce the Wednesday session. The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, will also speak at the conference.
National digital innovation strategy
The Luxembourg Digital Innovation Hub (L-DIH) was created in September 2019 at the initiative of Luxinnovation and FEDIL, with the support of the University of Luxembourg, LIST, the Chamber of Commerce and FNR. It focuses in particular on Industry 4.0, and more specifically on supporting SMEs in their successful digital transformation.
The creation of the L-DIH fits perfectly into the national digital innovation strategy for the development of a sustainable economy based on data and trust, as does the ongoing deployment of the MeluXina supercomputer.
The fact that the European Commission has chosen Luxembourg to host this event shows the extent to which the Grand Duchy's skills and know-how in this field are recognised.
L-DIH will be a candidate in the call for proposals launched by the European Commission to become a European Digital Innovation Cluster (E-DIH) and thus become an integral part of the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs.
Press release by the Ministry of State, the Ministry of the Economy and Luxinnovation