The third Mind & Market Forum in Luxembourg, which will take place on 14 November 2017, aims to provide a forum for innovative business ideas that could lead to successful startups. It creates a stage for innovation at the Maison du Savoir in Belval, a location that was not chosen at random, as it serves as a showcase for Luxembourg’s Research and Innovation. Within a bit more than a decade, an internationally recognised research and innovation ecosystem emerged, which is now expected to have an increasing socio-economic impact, i.e., generate successful business concepts.
“According to the government programme, the economic impact of public research in Luxembourg is a priority. Consequently, one of the FNR’s strategic objectives is to contribute to the economic exploitation of the results obtained in public research projects. The annual ‘Mind & Market’ Forum is an effective way to achieve this, as it enables researchers to exchange their ideas with potential partners and benefit from immediate feedback from the industry.” – Dr Marc Schiltz, Secretary General of the FNR.
Young future entrepreneurs will be given five minutes on the innovation stage to pitch their business idea to the competent jury and an audience of national and international experts. The experts consist of not only the initiators, but also those from a variety of fields, i.e., finance, manufacturing, service, economic, HR, marketing, and research.
Yes, research too. There is a common misconception that R&D is the sole domain of big high tech or pharmaceutical companies. Undoubtedly these are the most visible ones, with Intel probably being the paragon when thinking of the relationship between R&D and innovation. Nonetheless, as Andreea Monnat said in a recent interview, there is no D without the R, which implicitly also means no breakthrough innovations—a statement that also applies to many startups.
Research and development have at least two functions, whatever the size of the company. First, it builds knowledge within the firm to generate inventions, i.e., new products and services. And second, it improves the company’s ability to understand and absorb knowledge from outside the firm such as the knowledge spillovers generated by other companies.
So, R&D is a significant instrument for achieving future growth and maintaining a relevant product in the market. Thus a crucial element in the life of any ambitious startup!
The third edition of the Mind & Market in Luxembourg Annual Forum, the quintessential rendezvous for innovation in the Greater Region, is open for applications until 15 October 2017.
Mind & Market in Luxembourg is co-organized by Deloitte Luxembourg, Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), Luxinnovation, University of Luxembourg, Mind & Market Belgium, Fedil, Paul Wurth InCub , RTL and Equilibre.
This was originally published on LinkedIn Pulse on 12 September 2017
