Luxembourg extends intercontinental HealthTech reach

LIH showcased in Canada trade mission.

• Digital Health

Luxembourg Institute of Health Ulf Nehrbass and Jasmin Schulz attended the multi-sectoral official trade mission to Toronto and Montreal from 19-24 June 2022 as part of the representatives for the Health and Technology sector in Luxembourg.

A decade has passed since the first multi-sectoral trade mission to Canada, and this year it re-joined over one-hundred representatives of cybersecurity, data economy, Health Technology, Financial Technology and space. The event, organised by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Economy, took place in Toronto and Montreal over five days in June and was an invaluable opportunity to network, forge new partnerships as well as strengthen existing economic ties between the two nations.

Thanks to years of collaboration, the already solid relations between Canada and Luxembourg could only improve. As highlighted by the esteemed H.R.H. the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Minister of Economy Franz Fayot and Maud Murray, Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade during their opening speeches, Luxembourg is ideally positioned to be a gateway to the European market, for both new and more established businesses. It therefore provides invaluable opportunities to stimulate innovation and business dynamism, as well as to establish strong economic and trade partnerships.

Prof. Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of the Luxembourg Institute of Health, along with Dr Jasmin Schulz, LIH Strategic Program Officer, were among the delegates representing the Health Technology sector in Luxembourg. In addition to attending events at both Toronto and Montreal, Dr Schulz actively contributed to the event by giving a presentation on the HealthTech sector in Luxembourg during an Ontario-Luxembourg business forum, hosted by the Ontario Investment and Trade Center. The forum opened the trade mission on Monday 20^th of June, and had the specific aim to display the expanding sectors in Luxembourg and serve as a networking platform for potential Luxembourg-Canadian partnerships.

The event was very fruitful. We are currently following up with partners that we met in Canada with the aim to set up collaborations to further the Clinnova initiative,

commented Dr Schulz.

Clinnova is a pioneering project that joins together numerous Luxembourg players, such as the LIH, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Hospitals, to ensure lab innovations reach clinical implementation and benefit patients. This cross-border project established an international partner network comprising Luxembourg, the region Grand Est in France, Basel in Switzerland as well as Baden-Württemberg and Saarland in Germany. It will build on previous investments into translational research and health data infrastructure, and form a bridge to the hospitals in Luxembourg.