LIST Industry Day Event Gathers Over 170 Defence & Technology Experts From Across Europe

On Thursday 2 October 2025, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) hosted the second edition of the Sustainable Composite Materials & Manufacturing (SCMM) Industry Day at the Maison des Arts et des Étudiants in Esch-Belval. 

According to the organisers, the event featured more than 170 participants from across Europe and reinforced its role as an important platform for advancing composite technologies at the interface of civil and defence applications.

The theme of this year’s event was “Sustainable and Lightweight Composite Technologies: From Civil to Dual-Use Applications – How to Bridge Civil Technologies with Defence Needs?” highlighted how innovations in lightweight and sustainable composites can respond to the growing challenges of mobility, sustainability and defence applications.

Attendees included representatives from the Luxembourg Ministry of Defence and the European Defence Agency, including Luxembourg’s Minister of Defence and Minister for Mobility and Public Works, Yuriko Backes, who stressed the importance of “creating synergies for the development of capabilities and technologies addressing both dual-use and pure defence applications.”

The minister also highlighted LIST’s role within Luxembourg’s innovation ecosystem, underlining the need to “bring national and EU defence industry players together to help Luxembourg’s industry integrate the European defence value chain through partnerships with EU defence prime contractors.” 

During her speech, Nathalie Guichard, Research, Technology and Innovation Director at the European Defence Agency, outlined how European frameworks are helping civil companies enter the defence ecosystem and build collaborative projects, and speakers from Turkish Aerospace Industries, Saab and ArianeGroup highlighted how composites are transforming aerospace and space applications - from thermoplastic solutions for next-generation aerostructures to eco-friendly polymers reducing the environmental footprint of launchers.

The conference’s Land Vehicles discussion brought together leaders from companies John Cockerill, Leonardo and Iveco Defence Vehicles, who discussed the difficult balance between mobility, operability and protection in modern defence systems and presented new hybrid material solutions.

Elsewhere, a dedicated session gave voice to the supply chain, where representatives from Leonardo, Sonaca and Toray Advanced Composites explored how industrial players are accelerating innovation in aerospace structures and defence applications. The discussions revealed a strong focus on circularity, lightweight integration and advanced materials supply, underscoring how collaborative approaches across the value chain are essential to bridge civil innovation with dual-use demands.

Closing the event, speakers from Airbus, the European Commission and the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy emphasised that advancing composite technologies is not only a technical challenge but also a matter of industrial ambition and policy direction. Airbus highlighted the complexity of embedding composites into large aerostructures, while the European Commission underlined the role of funding in accelerating sustainable dual-use materials. Together, these perspectives showed that technological innovation must go hand in hand with strategic alignment and long-term support.

Moreover, the event featured a presentation of SCMM’s demonstrators. This provided participants with the opportunity to discover LIST’s cutting-edge capabilities in lightweight and sustainable composites and reinforced SCMM’s role in accelerating technology transfer from laboratory to market applications.

Olivier Guillon, CEO of LIST, said: “Luxembourg has identified defence and sustainable mobility as strategic priorities. This year’s SCMM Industry Day is our way of aligning excellent research with these national and European needs, to create an environment where public institutions, industry and research organisations can work together on solutions with real impact.”