Affaires économiques
In 2007, the Ministry of the Economy introduced the action plan “Technologies de la Santé” to foster the development of a biohealth cluster in Luxembourg. This initiative was part of a broader government strategy[1] to diversify Luxembourg’s economy, aiming to enhance its resilience by creating and supporting the development of clusters in specific scientific and technological domains, including health technologies. As a result, the BioHealth Cluster was established in 2008[2]. In 2016, it was renamed the HealthTech Cluster, as the specialisation of the cluster became more centered on digital health, digital medical devices and in vitro diagnostics.
The most recent data[3] on Luxembourg’s HealthTech sector dates back to 2021. At that time, the cluster counted 136 companies and 1.880 employees. The majority of the member companies, 46%, are classified in the domain of diagnostics and medical devices. Defined as the subsector[4] that develops and manufactures instruments, equipment and softwares used for diagnosing, monitoring or treating patients such as non-invasive blood tests, tubes, prosthetics or pacemakers. Secondly, the biopharma subsector represents 25% of the cluster. This category contains companies that discover, develop and manufacture biological drugs, such as vaccines, generics, regenerative medicines, and gene therapies. Finally, an additional 29% of companies fall under the category of “other health technologies”. This subsector focuses on a diverse range of technologies not incorporated in the other 2 subsectors, including digital health applications or wearable devices.
At its current stage, the Luxembourgish HealthTech Cluster can be considered an emerging cluster, still in the early phase of development. Looking ahead, internationalisation and collaborations could play a significant role in shaping its success, particularly given that Luxembourg is a small and open economy. Internationalisation efforts and collaborations not only improve access to international markets but also foster the exchange of knowledge and best practices.
Examining more developed clusters abroad and the specific initiatives they have implemented offers interesting insights into internationalization practices that could serve as guidance for future internationalisation efforts by the HealthTech cluster of Luxembourg:
Partnerships with non-European clusters to access global markets
As a part of their internationalisation strategy, the HealthTech Cluster Medical Valley, a leading cluster in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, partnered[5] with MEDTEQ[6], a Canadian industrial research and innovation consortium based in Montréal. MEDTEQ’s objective is to boost the development and commercialisation of promising health technologies in Canada. This type of collaboration enables members of the Medical Valley cluster to gain better access to the North American market for product commercialization. Additionally, the partnership encourages the implementation of joint R&D programmes and supports the co-development of health innovations with Canadian HealthTech companies.
For Luxembourg, establishing partnerships with specific clusters in other countries within, but especially outside the EU, that share a similar specialisation could be an interesting internationalization strategy. This type of collaborations facilitates the commercialization and adoption of the health innovations developed within the Luxembourgish cluster by improving the access to foreign markets.
Collaborations with foreign healthcare systems and hospitals
The Israel Innovation Authority has implemented several initiatives to promote the internationalisation and commercialisation of products developed by the country’s healthtech sector. A part of their strategy consists of establishing partnerships and creating programmes with foreign national institutions, healthcare providers, and hospitals. For instance, in 2018, the UK Israel Tech Hub, based at the British Embassy in Israel, launched the UK Israel Dangoor Health Initiative[7], a health accelerator programme aimed at connecting Israeli startups in the digital health field with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). A second case in point is the International Health-Tech Partnership Programme[8], initiated by the Israel Innovation Authority in collaboration with selected international health centres, primarily in the United States. Under this programme, Israeli companies receive government funding to conduct joint R&D projects with these health centres.
Both programmes aim to boost the commercialisation and internationalisation of new Israeli healthcare products. These models could serve as inspiration for the Luxembourg HealthTech cluster. Forming partnerships with regional hospitals or international health institutions could be implemented as a part of an internationalisation strategy. Moreover, given the absence of a university hospital in Luxembourg, such collaborations could provide the companies of the cluster better access to research infrastructure.
Gaining international visibility through communication
A third example is the Catalonian biotech cluster BioCat, which places a specific emphasis on communication. Regularly publishing reports, data, articles, and news, forms a key part of its internationalisation strategy in order to boost the cluster’s visibility and to keep its stakeholders informed about its activities. For BioCat, communication serves as a tool to internationalise its cluster. Since 2009, BioCat has published the BioRegion Report annually, which has become a benchmark in the field.[9] More specifically, the BioRegion reports provide insights into the cluster’s ecosystem. These include a detailed mapping of the companies and their respective subsectors, trends in industry turnover, and employment figures. The reports also provide figures on the number of multinationals present in the cluster and cover the dynamics of business creation illustrated by the number of startups and spin-offs established. Another section is dedicated to the cluster’s output and technological environment such as the number of patents produced by the cluster and figures on the use of AI technologies in the Catalan health system.
An internationalisation strategy for the Luxembourg HealthTech cluster could include similar communication tools for instance regularly publishing biennial reports and articles about the cluster’s ecosystem and activities in order to gain more international reach as well as visibility abroad.
[1] Research & Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy (Ris3), Ministery of the Economy, June 2024.
[2] https://gouvernement.lu/fr/actualites/toutes_actualites/articles/2008/09-septembre/30-krecke-luxinnovation.html
[3] https://luxinnovation.lu/resources/luxembourg-health-technology-ecosystem-mapping
[4] Bilan compétitivté 2019 – Focus sur l’entrepreneuriat, Observatoire de la compétitivité
[5] Press Release Medical Valley and_MEDTEQ partnering
[6] https://www.medteq.ca/histoire/
[7] https://digitalhealth.london/the-uk-israel-dangoor-health-initiative
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-new-initiative-connects-israeli-tech-to-uk-healthcare-1001493184
[8] https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/calls_for_proposal/international-health-tech-rd-and-pilot-programs-3/ and
[9] BioCat: Biocat promotes the BioRegion of Catalonia nationally and internationally