House of Startups
On Monday, 14 May 2018, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Economy welcomed international ICT and FinTech startups from over 20 different countries from all over the world at the House of Startups (HoST). More than 70 delegates from Iran, Japan, South Korea, China, Israel, the U.S., Germany and from all over Europe attended the joint networking event.
Working in the fields of Cybersecurity, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Payment and Regtech, to mention only a few, delegates have been invited by the Ministry of Economony’s Trade and Investment Offices, the Luxembourg House of FinTech (LHoFT) and the Chamber of Commerce, to discover the Grand Duchy on the occasion of the 11th edition of the Global Tech Conference ICT Spring Europe, 15-16 May 2018.
Throughout the day, the international startups participated in different pre-conference events, such as briefings about Luxembourg’s ICT and FinTech Ecosystem or the “International FinTech Showcase” at the LHoFT, where the best FinTechs showcased their solutions to Luxembourg’s financial actors.
In his welcoming speech, Carlo Thelen, Director General of the Chamber of Commerce, emphasised the importance of the HoST House of Startups for the national economy: “In this newest initiative of the Chamber of Commerce, we want to bring together Luxembourgish SMEs or big companies, feeling the urge to innovate, with startups – creative and innovative by nature – that need to test their solutions in real context and with potential clients.”
The idea was to create a place where innovation hubs, incubators, business accelerators and startup consulting services can work together under one roof, contribute to a favorable startup ecosystem and ensure a direct link with traditional members of the Chamber of Commerce. “It’s our role to create value for Luxembourgish companies, to bring together and create connections on national, regional and international level”, Mr. Thelen underlined.
Michele Gallo, Director of ICT Coordination at the Ministry of Economy, and Karin Schintgen, CEO of the House of Startups, were also pleased to present and discuss the many initiatives and support structures put in place to help startups thrive in the Grand Duchy.
The joint event is emblematic for Luxembourg as a cosmopolitan crossroads and it reflects the close collaboration of the different stakeholders that enables entrepreneurship and innovation.
