At Thursday's announcement to create a new Luxembourg Automotive Campus in Bissen for 4,000 people, IEE confirmed that they would be moving their headqurters, currently in Contern, to Bissen when the new facility is operational, which is expected in the summer of 2018.

"The new campus will focus on R&D and innovation in the automotive supplier sector, providing a unique opportunity for like-minded organisations to develop Luxembourg as a centre of excellence in innovation" said Michel Witte, IEE’s President & CEO. “When we started out in 1990, we were just a small start-up,” he said. “But it was this mind-set that made who we are today. That’s why it’s great that with its focus on R&D and on innovation, the Luxembourg Automotive Campus shares this ‘start-up and spin-off’ mentality. Being part of the Campus will help us take our business to the next level.”

“Locating leading automotive organizations in the same area will naturally lead to synergies and benefits for everyone involved – both in terms of shared resources and enhanced innovation,” said Mr. Witte. “But more than that, it will also help us to attract high-caliber talent to the region – making Luxembourg an attractive proposition for potential candidates outside the banking sector. And with the potential presence of some of the University of Luxembourg’s institutes, in combination with public research organisations, we could facilitate the preparation of students and post-doctoral candidates so that their skills could fit the requirements of the Campus members. A win-win situation for everyone.”

After the launch of the Luxembourg Automotive Campus which took place at the Goodyear plant in Colmar Berg, Michel Witte, President and CEO of the IEE group, took a few minutes to talk twith The Luxembourg Chronicle.

IEE is a major player in the field of automotive safety sensing systems. It was founded in Luxembourg in 1989, and retains its global HQ here while employing a total world staff of some 1,900 people across technical centres in Luxembourg, Germany, Slovakia, the USA, China, Japan and South Korea.

Mr. Witte talked about his expectations, hopes and dreams for the Luxembourg Automotive Campus and explained that they are all very similar. For IEE as an organisation it is important to their growth requirements that they move to a larger premises than the current one in Contern. Additional space is required not only for increased staff numbers - they have grown 15%-20% since taking on their existing premises in 2006 - but also for enhanced testing facilities, both in the proximity of the existing Goodyear test track and also in the creation of new specialist testing facilities. Plans for the future include a wind tunnel, EMI (Electro Magnetic Induction), sound booths, environmental testing rigs and even a 900 metre high speed indoor fully climate controllable test track which will be unique in the world and to which automotive sector suppliers can come and test their products. These things aren’t cheap, so the idea of sharing the resources with other players is particularly attractive, and IEE are already discussing synergies with Delphi and Goodyear, as well as, of course, the Luxembourg government.

One issue that IEE is well aware of is that the move to Bissen will have a negative impact on many of its frontalier employees, whose in many cases long and arduous daily commutes will become even longer. Although, especially as IEE are struggling to recruit the right talents locally, the company is keen to retain all of its staff, it does recognise that there may well be a percentage who find the move to be a step too far, and will look for employment elsewhere. Nevertheless, as an organisation the business need means that the move has to go ahead. He added that they are constantly scouring the international markets for new staff, as well as pushing the University of Luxembourg for suitable candidates. When asked specifically by The Luxembourg Chronicle, Mr. Witte added that they also scout The Morpheus Cup participants.

One thing that IEE and the other founding partners are keen on is that their work on the “bleeding edge” of the development of the campus will reap its rewards. Companies who wait until after it has become a mature development will be obliged to demonstrate how their presence will bring value to the campus, as the idea is to nurture sharing not only of infrastructure and technology costs, but also of ideas, and it is less of an incentive to make the major investments, and mistakes, if other companies can jump in and benefit afterwards without giving something back.

On the number of companies expected to take residence in the campus facilities, he said that there is an initial interest from 12 companies, although not all of them will be able to come in from the outset owing to existing investments and commitments in their current workplaces. Ultimately he hopes to see around 30 middle-to-large companies representing both existing Luxembourg-based organisations, and some new either to Luxembourg or even to the market in general.

The main areas of specialisation will be electronics, sensing devices (IEE’s domain) and tyres. Among other things, the new Nordstroos (A7) motorway has a particularly advanced electronics infrastructure, and the aim is to be able use it periodically to conduct tests of autonomous (driverless) vehicles. This of course would imply that the road be closed to normal traffic during these (initial) trials.

It is expected that the foundation stones for the new buildings will be laid some time in September 2016, and that IEE will move in two years after that at the end of summer 2018.