crossroads magazine As CEO of Luxinnovation, the national innovation agency, Mario Grotz sits at the intersection of government, research and business. He explains how Luxembourg is evolving from a financial centre into a knowledge-driven innovation hub – and what really convinces international companies to anchor their research and development (R&D) here. BY ZUZA REDA-JAKIMA How do you explain R&D to a non-expert? Mario Grotz : R&D in companies has two main compo- nents. The first is process innovation – improving how you produce or deliver, for example, by integrating new sensors and intelligence into manufacturing to increase efficiency. The second is product and service innovation – developing entirely new offerings, such as advanced-materials-based tyre types. Both are es sen- tial, and both are supported by Luxembourg’s main R&D framework law. Process innovation helps companies to stay competi- tive by constantly improving productivity, while product and service innovation is often more disruptive and can reshape entire markets. To use another example, using ar- tificial intelligence (AI) to create services that simply were not possible before, that’s product and service innovation. Can you share some examples of companies doing R&D well in Luxembourg? Goodyear is a good illustration. They have a large re- search centre in Luxembourg with around a thousand researchers, and at the same time, a significant man- ufacturing base. They innovate both on products and on production processes. Smaller companies also choose Luxembourg for R&D. In the space and advanced materials area, for instance, Gradel has developed a breakthrough lightweight com- posite technology in collaboration with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). Another example is Passbolt, a cybersecurity startup that has built its open-source password management platform through sustained R&D investment which is now used by organisations worldwide . © Luxinnovation/Marion Dessard crossroads magazine