The Luxembourg Materials Cluster aims at sharing ideas and exchanging best practice as well as discussing present concerns and debating future challenges among its members. Bridging the gap between public research and industrial innovation is a key objective of the Cluster by providing tailor-made working groups focusing on the needs of the Materials community. In this regard, two dedicated working groups have been set up in the fields of mathematical modelling and European funding programmes.
Fostering mathematical modelling in Luxembourg
The aim of this working group is to map the competencies in the field of mathematical modelling in Luxembourg and to identify the strengths and weaknesses. The Luxembourg Materials Cluster held two meetings in 2011 with 10 public and private organisations sharing common interest and willing to develop potential collaboration opportunities.
Beyond the fact that each participant was given the possibility to present its activities and to have an open discussion with other actors, an enquiry on the members’ needs was conducted. The main outcome is that there is a clear need for such a networking platform with emphasis on raising the general level of knowledge and resource sharing.
Encouraging collaborative research at European level
Another important dimension of the Luxembourg Materials Cluster is to encourage the participation of key players in European-funded research projects. A specific working group on the 7th
European Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) is aiming at delivering strategic information on Working Programmes (NMP and Transport) and collecting interests on research topics from the national stakeholders. Luxinnovation, being both Delegate for Luxembourg in FP7 Programme Committees and National Contact Point, is thus able to give input to the European Commission (EC) and support national interests as well as to provide working group members with high added-value information on EU research agenda.
In more concrete terms, the Luxembourg Materials Cluster held a workshop in 2011 on the preparation of 2012 Work Programmes (NMP and Transport) and hosted a visit of the Head of Unit NMP of the EC to present the Materials capabilities in Luxembourg and to discuss EU future challenges and opportunities.
