Innovation Hub Dudelange Has Opened its Doors!

On June 30th, the startup incubator of Dudelange held its official inauguration ceremony with help from Francine Closener, Secretary of State of the Economy. A total of seven startups are beginning their adventure with the Innovation Hub Dudelange. At the inauguration, guests had the opportunity to explore the space and check out the 7 up-and-comers.

An inspiring public-private ecological collaboration

In July of 2017, Dudelange’s town council unanimously signed an agreement with three players—the Minister of the Economy, Technoport, and GIE Luxinnovation—for the drawing up and creation of the Innovation Hub Dudelange. The Hub is designated as a center for innovation in the domain of ecotechnologies and will remain in part under supervision of the City of Dudelange.

“The focus on ecological technology will help in a wider effort for a future ecological neighborhood, Neischmelz, which will have a neutral CO2 consumption.”

The project’s framing goal is to help foster improvement at the local, regional and national levels by developing companies focused on technology. And the focus on ecological technology will help in a wider effort for a future ecological neighborhood, Neischmelz, which will have a net-neutral CO2 consumption.

The Innovation Hub Dudelange calls 100, Route de Vomerange, the last Arcelor-Mittal headquarters to date, its home. The grounds boast over 500m2, which comes out to 14 offices and meeting rooms that have all been completely renovated and installed for the benefit of 12 young startups.

“In the new world order—well, in Neischmelz—the rolling-mill, perhaps too fittingly, will host startups.”

Just a piece of Neischmelz?

The Innovation Hub serves as a precursor to the concept of a future eco-friendly neighborhood, Neischmelz. As a pilot program, the Innovation Hub represents a first step towards the construction of Neischmelz and a larger namesake for Dudelange as ecotechnologically centered. The transition will be lengthy, so before building the new landscape and infrastructure, architects needed to be sure the site would be beneficial in the short-term as well—notably by creating jobs while adhering to the Neischmelz concept in design. In the new world order—well, in Neischmelz—the rolling-mill, perhaps too fittingly, will host startups.

At the Innovation Hub, young startups will be able to hold their headquarters for five years max. Two types of companies will be defined by age:

  1. Very young companies (under two years old at the time of integration into the Innovation Hub) will have access for five years. The innovation hub will serve as a base camp and as a trampoline to launch them to success (Silicon Luxembourg wonders if there will be an actual trampoline on site? Cue wondering emoji.)

  2. Young startups over two years old for which the Innovation Hub will serve as a host house before they become fully autonomous.

Seven startups have already taken control of the space. Four of the startups are already rolling, and the other three are getting their footing. The startups’ products and services spread a range of subjects within the ecotech domain, from recycling and ecological cleaning to ecological habitat consulting and broader eco consulting, just to name a few.

No entry without a pat down

While the city of Dudelange will have final say, Luxinnovation and Technoport are responsible for prescreening all interested startups to determine readiness for entry into the Hub. Luxinnovation and Technoport will hopefully also have a part in the creation of Neischmelz, an effort that Dudelange encourages with hopes to optimize the transition.

“What would be even more advantageous is a synergistic relationship between the startups and city services.”

The city is taking steps to organize animations at the Innovation Hub Dudelange that will help make activities more visible to the surrounding community, including open house days and scholastics visits of the grounds. What would be even more advantageous is a synergistic relationship between the startups and city services.

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