Start-ups

Ideally situated in the centre of Europe and benefiting from a multilingual culture, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a hub for start-ups and scale-ups wishing to develop their activities in Europe.

Luxembourg's start-up ecosystem has grown impressively over the course of the last few years and now boasts around 600 start-ups.

The Ministry of the Economy's Start-up unit within the General Directorate for Industry, New Technologies and Research (Direction Générale Industrie, nouvelles technologies et recherche) has the task of developing Luxembourg's ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in order to encourage the creation of new innovative start-ups, to support the growth of scale-ups and to attract international entrepreneurs and investors to Luxembourg.

Strategy

In 2023, the Ministry of the Economy presented the roadmap for the future development of the start-up ecosystem in Luxembourg, entitled "From Seed to Scale".

The roadmap suggests a series of measures based around 5 main axes: 

• To continue the efforts intended to support start-ups from the outset
• To create a more connected, stronger and more visible national ecosystem
• To improve access to talent for start-ups and scale-ups
• To create an environment that is conducive to the development of scale-ups
• To promote a start-up ecosystem anchored in the heart of the EU

Luxembourg start-up platform

Launched by the Ministry of the Economy and Luxinnovation, the www.startupluxembourg.com platform provides all of the information on the Luxembourg start-up ecosystem, launching a start-up in Luxembourg, and existing support measures.

Furthermore, the objective is to create closer connections between all the actors within the ecosystem (and to make those connections more visible), to strengthen the start-up community, to increase the links between the different actors and to improve the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial environment as a whole.

The directory of the Luxembourg start-up ecosystem, powered by Dealroom, has been available on Startup Luxembourg since June 2023 and benefits both businesses and potential investors since it provides real-time data on the start-ups' activities.

Hosting facilities for innovative companies

The Ministry of the Economy actively supports the creation of hosting facilities for innovative companies, including start-ups.

Technoport

Created by the State in June 2012, the Technoport manages various incubation infrastructures for innovative start-ups located in Esch-Belval, Foetz and Bissen and offers the start-ups hosted there, premises that are adapted to their activities as well as the support services necessary for their development.

The objective of the Technoport is to promote and support the creation and development of innovative businesses with a technological vocation in Luxembourg.

The Automobility Incubator, inaugurated on 3 December 2024, is one of the 3 sites managed by Technoport. It is located within the Automobility Campus in Bissen and is committed to strengthening the national competitiveness of the automotive sector and mobility and to support the development of new activities within this field.

It houses start-ups, spin-offs and international companies focused on innovation, research and the development of new technologies with the aim of bringing different key stakeholders together in a spirit of cooperation.

In 2017, in collaboration with Vodafone Procurement Company, Technoport also created the "Joint Innovation Center" called Tomorrow Street. Its objective is the international selection of technology scale-ups with strong growth and potential, to support them through their globalisation process.

House of BioHealth

The "House of BioHealth" in Esch-sur-Alzette is a hosting facility for companies that are active in the field of health technologies, one of Luxembourg's priority sectors. An incubator for start-ups can also be found in the House of BioHealth.

Parc Luxite

Parc Luxite is a business park for companies in the ecotechnologies sector in Kockelscheuer.

Financial aid

Fit4Start

Initiated by the Ministry of the Economy and managed by Luxinnovation, the Fit4Start programme's vocation is to support start-ups in the fields of Digital, Health Tech and Space from their inception phase by offering financing of up to €150,000 and coaching adapted to their early-stage needs.

Digital Tech Fund

Created jointly by the State and a group of private investors, the Digital Tech Fund is a Venture Capital seed fund managed by Expon Capital, which is committed to supporting the financing and development of start-ups that are active in the field of ICT, which is considered to be a key sector for national economic diversification.

Research and innovation projects

The law on financial aid for research, development and innovation, provides the legal basis for a range of financial aid schemes that allows the Ministry of the Economy to actively support businesses (including start-ups) with their research and innovation projects.

Financial aid for young innovative start-ups

Within the framework of the law on financial aid for research, development and innovation, financial aid for Young Innovative Enterprises can be granted by the Ministry of the Economy to help innovative enterprises that are less than 5 years old and have recently raised private capital. The objective is to facilitate their entry into a growth phase by accelerating the development of their products and stimulating their marketing and sales activities so that the company can develop internationally.

JUMP programme

Since 2023, the Ministry of the Economy has co-financed the JUMP programme run by Luxembourg's National Research Fund (FNR) to enable the participation of experienced entrepreneurs that can support the researchers benefiting from the programme, in the commercial development and creation of their spin-off from public research.

You will find all the types of support offered by the Ministry of the Economy in the section "services to businesses".

Internationalisation programmes

Benelux Catalyst

The Benelux Catalyst is a programme organised by BelCham New York and supported by the Ministry of the Economy that enables innovative scale-ups to discover the American market from New York, so that they can start to build commercial contacts there.

Internationalization Bootcamp: US Edition

The Internationalization Bootcamp: US Edition is a programme organised by Gener8tor, supported by the Ministry of the Economy, which enables innovative start-ups to discover the American market from Chicago, Milwaukee and San Francisco, so that they can see whether their product is adapted to the American market and start to make their initial commercial contacts.

For an overview of all the existing types of support and programmes for start-ups, please see startupluxembourg.com/startup-dedicated-programmes,  guichet.lu/entreprises/financement-aides and luxinnovation.lu/innovate/innovation-funding.

International relations

Luxembourg participates in the activities of several international organisations and associations, including the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Startup Nation Alliance (ESNA).