Credit: Fondation Idea
Fondation Idea has revealed its Idea of the Month No. 20: Nine ways to strengthen the R&D ecosystem in Luxembourg.
In 2017, the "Luxembourg public research system" celebrated its thirty years of existence. Over the course of these three decades, it has considerably changed and strengthened, gradually conferring on Luxembourg the "status" of "producer of knowledge".
In its consolidation phase, the Luxembourg research system will- according to Idea- have to meet a double challenge: to win its credentials in the promising fields of excellence while constantly seeking to cling to the economic and societal challenges that the country wishes to embrace. The answer to these questions will depend on Luxembourg's ability to make the fourth decade of Luxembourg's research a success, enabling it to become a lasting leader among European leaders.
This idea of the month proposes nine lines of action to answer three major issues: firstly, in order to encourage the rise of private research and development (R&D) activities and to encourage SMEs to innovate, Idea has proposed a recalibration of business support for R&D by creating a dedicated tax credit (1), the introduction of innovation checks (2) and a measure in favour of the evaluation of innovation policies (track 3).
Regarding the second issue, incentives for public-private cooperation in research and better valorisation of public research could also benefit from a reorientation of certain public aid schemes to companies for calls for projects (4), a common strategy for promoting public research (5) and encouraging mobility of researchers and raising awareness of entrepreneurial issues (6).
Finally, the implementation of a national research strategy at the service of the economic and societal challenges of Luxembourg should be clarified, according to Idea. As such, it would include a more precise definition of public research priorities (7), an innovation strategy for the public sector (8) and the development of an attractive ecosystem from which many indirect benefits can be expected (9).
However, this Idea of the Month is not intended to propose all “necessary and sufficient” measures to build from scratch Luxembourg's strategy for Research, Development and Innovation. In a field where much has been done and for which a form of "national consensus" seems to be acquired, it simply proposes ways to continue strengthening an ever-evolving ecosystem.
