“Luxembourg has built its research and innovation ecosystem in what Marc Schiltz calls “record time”. FNR CEO Marc Schiltz weighs in on emerging trends, competitors and keeping the grand duchy attractive for bright, young talent.

The Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) recently turned 20. As the main funder of research activities in the grand duchy, the FNR needs to remain agile, according to its CEO, Marc Schiltz. But how do some of the big issues–from Brexit to big data and bureaucracy–impact the organisation? And what is the FNR doing to stay relevant with youth, citizens and other stakeholders?

Natalie A. Gerhardstein: The Luxembourg Digital Innovation Hub was recently launched. Can you talk about FNR’s role in this and the most exciting avenues of innovations you see in Luxembourg?

Marc Schiltz: The idea of the Digital Innovation Hub is really to be a platform where various actors can interact, those who face challenges related to digitalisation, like companies and other stakeholders, and those that offer solutions to these challenges. At the FNR, we are very well connected to the research community, and there is a lot of research that goes on in Luxembourg in the digital area. We’re also well connected to the enterprise world. For a while now, we have actively pursued programmes to have public research and companies collaborate. Many of these programmes are in the ICT sector. Connecting companies with researchers is something we do have experience in.”

The article: Embracing the digital transformation