Technoport hosted the 2023 International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) conference in Luxembourg. Experts from 55 countries discussed the effects of major trends on countries, communities, and industries.
From 12 to 15 September, the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) held its 40th IASP World Conference on Science Parks and Areas of Innovation in Luxembourg. The event was hosted by Technoport, a Luxembourg technology business incubator based in Belval.
IASP is a global network for science parks innovation districts and other areas of innovation. Its 2023 World Conference was dedicated to Megatrends in Innovation Ecosystems and their impacts on Science and Technology Parks (STP) and Areas of Innovation (AOIs).
Megatrends are trends or events that have an effect on a global scale.
Participants from 55 countries discussed the effects of major trends on countries, communities and industries, and the different innovations and strategies that can address these issues.
“Megatrends design, implement and redefine innovation ecosystems,” said Ebba Lund (CEO of IASP), during the opening ceremony of the event.
“Besides the existing logistics, healthtech, space, automobile innovation hubs, there are new initiatives of campuses developing in Luxembourg for the coming years.”
Diego De Biasio, CEO of Technoport
“At the cutting edge of emerging trends”
“This conference is a platform for in-depth discussions, which aims to equip participants with the tools to future-proof their organizations and stay at the cutting edge of emerging trends.”
Franz Fayot (Minister of the Economy and Minister for Development, Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Luxembourg) addressed Luxembourg’s openness and innovation culture.
He recalled the patriotic song “De Feierwon” (“Chariot of fire”) composed by Luxembourg poet Michel Lentz in 1859. The song was played for the first time on 4 October 1859, during the inauguration of the first train departure from Luxembourg Central Station. The train departed to Thionville, France.
The song line “Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn” (“We want to remain what we are”) had become a national motto.
“However, the line is not nationalistic: to the contrary,” Franz Fayot explained. “It is a message of openness and an invitation to our neighbors and to people from all over the world to come to visit us and to stay in our country.”
He added that 50% of Luxembourg’s population are foreigners, not including the 200.000 commuters from Belgium, France and Germany “coming every day to Luxembourg to build the country together with us”.
“If we remain what we are, we constantly need to reinvent us,” he continued, praising the country’s quality of life and its sustainable economy.
He also praised the economic reconversion of Belval’s steel and mining industry site into an internationally recognized technology innovation park and hub.
“As a small country, collaboration and openness are part of our DNA,” he concluded. “Hence, we need collaboration! We need you! We need the international outlook to make sense of what we are doing!”.
Diego de Biasio (CEO of Technoport Luxembourg) told the audience about the growth of the company since its first IASP world conference in Canada in September 2002.
IASP Luxembourg: Exploring Megatrends And Innovation With Cosmic Splendor
25 years of existence, 15 years of membership
Technoport SA, a technology business incubator and event space, was launched in 1998, with among other goals to promote and support the creation and development of innovative and technology-oriented companies in Luxembourg.
Technoport became a full member of the IASP in 2008: “15 years is the time to design and identify megatrends that impact us today and within the next years,” he said.
“Besides the existing logistics, healthtech, space, automobile innovation hubs, there are new initiatives of campuses developing in Luxembourg for the coming years,” he added. “This led to our motivation to host the IASP’s 2023 World Conference. I think we can learn a lot from the participants.”
Diego de Biasio continued by saying that as a small country Luxembourg has advantages, but also faces some pitfalls.
Among the issues he raised: “the country’s reduced number of resources and expertise”, as well as “its capacity to deal with the technological changes induced by the megatrends and which are impacting us”.
He concluded saying that “we therefore need to make the right decisions and choices on the models we design and develop for the future of Luxembourg.”
Herbert Chen (President of IASP, China) addressed the importance of people and connections when overcoming those challenges.
Daria Krivonos (CEO, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies) talked about how to apprehend megatrends, uncertainties and unexpected events, in order to work with the future, from good feeling to structure analysis, up to understanding our own biases.
She concluded by suggesting “what if we began to look at uncertainty as a feature, rather than a bug.”
The IASP is a global network for science parks innovation districts and other areas of innovation.
Created in 1984, the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) is a network of 350 members (115k members, 79 companies) from 40 countries.
IASP is based in Malaga (Spain) and Beijing (China) and operates seven regional divisions (African, Asia Pacific, Eurasia, European, Latin American, North American, West Asia North).
