The 2016 Luxembourg Internet Days launched its annual 2-day conference at the Chambre de Commerce in Luxembourg-Kirchberg at lunchtime on Monday.

A total of 830 attendees had registered to attend - a 30% increase on 2014 registrations. Such was the growth in numbers, there was a substantial shortage of chairs once the plenary session got underway, with standing room only in the aisles.

Nicolas Mackel, Director at Luxembourg for Finance, opened the event and talked up Luxembourg as a centre for FinTech which he admitted is not immune to the digitalisation of financial services. This has gathered speed over the last number of years and is affecting every corner of the financial service sector.

The financial service sector needs to keep abreast of advances in technology and adopt new actors who are bringing new solutions. He argued for supporting and embracing new ideas and establishing what we can do together. He also referred to the establishment of the House of FinTech allowing collaboration and interaction, with representatives from technology and finance, as well as academia, to enable Luxembourg be established as a European FinTech hub.

Francine Closener, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, stated that Luxembourg is a trusted played in the ICT world and is known for excellence and innovation. She talked about embracing new financial instruments, for example Renmimbi and Islamic finance, where Luxembourg is moving fast. Luxembourg is actively engaged in developing the FinTech sector, with infrastructure investment in secure data centres and ultra-low latency and high bandwidth. The Luxembourg government has decided to develop a secure ecosystem positioning Luxembourg as a European hub.

This environment attracts innovative start-ups to help build the eco-system. She stated that the Fit4Startups programme has recently been launched to help set-up and validate ideas which will take the form of a competition, with €50,000 of start-up investment, offices at Technoport in Esch-Belval, and mentoring, to make them more presentable to investors. She also mentioned the launch of a €20 million seed fund to be managed by a professional team, aiming to transfer technology to successful spin-off companies.

She wrapped up by stating that Luxembourg is embracing change to define Luxembourg's future, but urged the attendees - ICT professionals - to design new products and bring innovation to the sector. This is key to the further development of the digital economy.

The conference continues tomorrow, Tuesday.

Photos by Geoff Thompson