Posted Sep 28, 2022, 12:00 PM
At the end of September, four business leaders – two from Lorraine and two from Luxembourg – presented their cross-border expansion projects to an audience of around twenty entrepreneurs, academics and institutions from both countries. Organized at the Technoport of Alzette-Belval, a technological incubator located at the foot of former Luxembourg blast furnaces, this fifth Euro-Accelerator commission proved to be as encouraging as the previous ones.
The project leaders – specializing in quality control, veterinary health, the distribution of recycled or used car parts and the processing of parts from additive manufacturing – welcomed the opening up to large-regional or European markets, the quality of the advice and the time saved in making contacts. The support, which 80% of pre-selected candidates obtain, will continue for a year, with each component of the Euro-Accelerator mobilizing its relays to provide the company with marketing support, a technological boost or financial aid.
Innovative projects
“It’s no longer the entrepreneur who explores the ecosystem, it’s the ecosystem that comes to him!” “, rejoices Hervé Bauduin, president of the Union of metallurgical and mining industries (UIMM) of the Great East. At the beginning of 2021, the employers’ organization entrusted the Commission for Investment in Innovation and Economic Mobilization (C2IME) based in Metz with the cross-border extension of territorial support in Lorraine.
The small structure of five employees selects innovative industrial projects and internally mobilizes public and private partners who, from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to the University of Lorraine via Pôle emploi or the BPI, are likely to move forward. The Luxembourg counterparts of these institutions have integrated the system. Invited as observers, representatives of the metallurgical industries, the Ministry of the Economy and the Sarre employment agency should take the plunge next year.
Three border poles
“The Grand Est, Luxembourg and Saarland share the same industrial tradition and must find synergies to tackle the challenge of reindustrialisation. The Euro-Accelerator will constitute a lasting contribution from the Grand Est to the Greater Region, of which it chairs until the end of the year”, indicates Valérie Debord, LR vice-president of the Grand Est regional council and president of the C2IME. The Greater Region European Territorial Cooperation Group brings together the executives of five neighboring French, German and Belgian territories, as well as Luxembourg.
The Grand Est is also part of two other areas of cross-border cooperation, Euregio Meuse-Rhine in the north and Upper Rhine in the south. Rather than extending the Euro-Accelerator there, the Grand Est executive plans to duplicate it in these two other border hubs.
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