On 13 July, the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development and Luxinnovation signed their first three-year partnership agreement. It aims to support the agri-food sector and boost competitiveness and sustainability through innovation, digitalisation and collaboration with research players.
Jean-Michel Gaudron
The development of resilient and diversified agri-food value chains is one of the pillars of economically viable, socially equitable and eco-responsible agriculture.
The new cooperation will encourage the networking of different branches of the agri-food sector with public or private partners. It will also facilitate their access to support programmes. The objective is to develop resilient and diversified agri-food value chains that will benefit Luxembourg agriculture as a whole.
Luxinnovation facilitates access to knowledge, finance, technology, equipment, infrastructure, networks, markets and business opportunities through a portfolio of useful
“We are committed to supporting the development of resilient and diversified agri-food value chains through innovation,” comments Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation. “We are there to inform companies, but also to support them in their innovation projects, to put them in direct contact with public and private players, and to promote collaborative projects that benefit the entire agri-food sector and, beyond that, the Luxembourg economy.”
Claude Hostert, Senior Advisor – Agri-food Sector, will coordinate Luxinnovation’s activities in this field and be in charge of supporting various innovative national initiatives in the agri-food sector.
The potential direct beneficiaries of this cooperation are suppliers of agri-food products and services as well as companies involved in agri-food processing, digital services, equipment, agri-food consulting, agri-food distribution and the bioeconomy.
Indirect beneficiaries include primary agricultural producers, the research sector and companies with cutting-edge technologies such as aquaponics and vertical farming.
Developing resilient and diversified agri-food value chains is a real challenge
Agriculture Minister Claude Haagen emphasised: “These synergies will create essential opportunities for innovation and diversification for the agri-food community and reinforce the implementation of the National Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy and the PAN-Bio 2025 action plan.”
Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot said: “The partnership between Luxinnovation and the Ministry of Agriculture will ultimately benefit the competitiveness and sustainability of the agri-food sector. Developing resilient and diversified agri-food value chains is a real challenge, not only for Luxembourg but also for the whole of Europe. Luxinnovation, the national innovation agency, will use its expertise to support all innovative projects emerging in this context. Innovative agri-food production projects, such as aquaponics or vertical farming, are perfectly in line with our efforts to support the transition to a sustainable economy, particularly by promoting the active development of the circular economy.”
Photos: Ministry of the Economy
