Luxembourg Government and ICT Sector Committed to Moving Digital Transformation Forward

On Monday, ICTluxembourg and representatives of its member federations met with Luxembourg’s government, represented by the Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Etienne Schneider, Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, and their collaborators.

This meeting, which takes place annually as part of the collaboration in the “Digital Lëtzebuerg” initiative, provides an opportunity to take stock of the work carried out and actions to be taken for the development of the digital sector.

ICTluxembourg thanked the government for refreshing the economic vision for the country, notably through the Rifkin study with a strong digital component and supported by a new nation branding initiative labelled “Let’s make it happen”, which aims to strengthen the image of Luxembourg on the international scene.

The Government underlined the importance of collaboration and exchanges between the public and private sectors in order to advance the Luxembourg economy and support the development of the ICT sector.

ICTluxembourg welcomed the various initiatives taken by the government, including:

• The major project of common European interest (IPCEI) in the field of High Performance Computing (HPC) coordinated by Luxembourg;

• The setting up of the “Digital Tech Fund”, whose first investments have just been announced;

• The adoption of the Law of 17 May 2017 on the renewal of research, development and innovation aid schemes: this will make it easier to obtain R&D&I subsidies, in particular for young innovative companies;

• The adoption of the law of 8 March 2017 amending the amended law of 29 August 2008 on the free movement of persons and immigration: this will allow companies to recruit third-country nationals more easily;

• The creation of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technologies – LHoFT: it stimulates the development of the FinTech ecosystem;

• The vote of the law of 23 May 2016 on free access to public data – “open data”, which allows the development of services by third-party providers;

• The launch of the Cyber ​​Security Competence Center (C3): this will provide training and will be a test tool for new software;

• Draft legislation for a new “IP Box” regime: it will attract new investments that build on intellectual property;

• Expanding public provision in terms of enrollment, including the creation of public and international schools;

• The launch of the “InfraChain” initiative, which capitalises on the Luxembourg ecosystem for the creation of a regulated blockchain platform.

Following discussion, the Government and ICT Luxemburg have agreed to act jointly on the following actions:

• For better visibility of the ICT sector abroad, consultation will take place to better take into account the interests of the sector when establishing the programs for State visits and economic missions for the year 2018.

• With regard to research aid, a workshop with the Ministry of Economy will be organised in order to present the new provisions of the law of 17 May 2017.

• In the area of ​​cyber security, a closer relationship with SMILE (Security made in Lëtzebuerg) will be carried out in order to raise awareness of the availability of this tool to support them in their cyber security policy;

• As a result of Bill 7024 on outsourcing in the financial sector, the government was receptive to the suggestion to reduce the framework governing support PSFs in order to adapt it to current market developments. Support PSFs were invited to make suggestions to the Minister of Finance.

In addition, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel asked for a follow-up meeting between the coordination unit of “Digital Lëtzebuerg”, which brings together the representatives of the three ministers and ICTluxembourg, in order to follow up on the issues raised during the meeting.