Luxinnovation supported 891 companies in 2024, helping businesses innovate, adopt advanced digital technologies and enhance their sustainability through innovation. The national innovation agency’s newly released Annual Report highlights these achievements and its efforts to strengthen the country’s innovation ecosystem.
Lena Mårtensson
2024 was characterised by global challenges such as climate change, geopolitical turbulence and far-reaching technological advances, which all impact Luxembourg companies.
"Innovation is more vital than ever, it is the key to staying competitive and solving global challenges," says Lex Delles, Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism. "Luxinnovation plays a crucial role in guiding companies through change and encouraging innovation in strategic sectors such as advanced manufacturing, defence, health technology, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. The significant number of companies supported highlights the agency's impact on innovation across all companies, including those that are not traditionally considered technology leaders.”
"The 891 companies supported in 2024 reflect our work to foster innovation in all sectors of activity. Next year, we will continue our outreach efforts, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises," adds Mario Grotz, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Luxinnovation, who took up his position as the agency's new CEO on 1 March 2025.
Luxinnovation's main mission is to give companies the means to innovate today to be ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow. "To better inform our ever-evolving support offering, we have structured our services into three main categories: assessing the development potential of companies, connecting them with relevant partners, and helping them secure suitable financing opportunities," says Mr Grotz.
During the year, 67 companies joined the “Fit 4” performance programmes – mainly Fit 4 Sustainability and Fit 4 Digital – to assess their development potential and receive tailor-made action plans. The Luxembourg Digital Innovation Hub (L-DIH) supported 32 manufacturing companies in assessing their digital and cyber maturity and identifying the actions needed for succeeding with their digital transformation.
In 2024, Luxinnovation supported the creation of 48 new startups. This year, 20 startups participated in the 14th edition of its startup accelerator programme Fit 4 Start, and the Fit 4 Start #15 call attracted over 400 applications from around the world. The pilot edition of Luxembourg’s new scaleup support programme, managed by Luxinnovation, was implemented to support high-potential businesses in refining their operations, expanding their market reach, and unlocking future growth opportunities.
Luxinnovation helped businesses and research centres connect with relevant partners, both in Luxembourg and internationally. Its specialists in the fields of agrifood, automobility, cleantech, creative industries, defence innovation, healthtech, materials and manufacturing, and wood initiated over 520 contacts between companies looking for partners and other players in the ecosystem.
In 2024, Luxinnovation supported the submission of 124 national R&D and innovation project applications – a significant increase of 68% compared to 2023. “This reflects a consistently growing interest in implementing innovative projects in companies,” Mr Grotz points out. A total of 37 environmental protection project applications were successfully submitted with the agency’s guidance – somewhat less than in 2023, although still considerably more than in 2022.
Luxinnovation also supported the submission of 137 European funding applications. Luxembourg entities obtained €47.40 million in Horizon Europe funding. As the national focal point for the European Defence Fund (EDF), Luxinnovation helped 10 R&D projects with Luxembourg participants obtain EDF funding in 2024.
Luxinnovation’s second main mission consists in identifying innovation opportunities and fostering collaborative innovation projects that stimulate the development of a sustainable, competitive and digital economy. Understanding global trends and the evolution of Luxembourg’s national ecosystems is essential, and during the year, the agency produced 17 market and ecosystem analyses and 4 market trend reports.
To efficiently address ecosystem innovation gaps and find solutions to problems that no single player can solve alone, Luxinnovation set up an innovation ecosystem project management team to carry out this mission effectively. Its first task was coordinating Luxembourg’s successful bid to host an AI Factory, providing startups, SMEs and researchers with artificial intelligence (AI) optimised high performance computing resources, training, funding support, and technical expertise.
To intensify connections between investors and startups, Luxinnovation organised the second edition of the Luxembourg Venture Days together with the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LPEA). Over two days, 200 startups, 200 investors and almost 2,000 participants joined the event. As part of its work to attract new innovative companies that fit into Luxembourg’s innovation ecosystem, the agency hosted 56 soft-landing visits and supported the incorporation of 17 international companies in Luxembourg.
Luxinnovation pursued the work on the Klimapakt fir Betriber initiative, implemented jointly with Klima-Agence, to support companies in becoming more sustainable and energy efficient. Activities in 2024 focused on identifying tailored solutions to help companies in key sectors reduce energy consumption and costs. The agency also participated in two cross-border projects on sustainability funded by the EU’s Interreg Greater Region 2021-2027 programme: Greater Green+, which promotes sustainable development and the circular economy, and W.A.V.E, which focuses on the use of wood as a sustainable construction material.
