Luxembourg to invest 1.7bn euros in research and higher education

18 January 2022

Luxembourg is increasing research funding by nearly 300 million euros to a total of 1.7 billion euros for the 2022 – 2025 period, up 17.6% on the previous years.

The state allocates its funds to higher education and research on the basis of four-year contracts with the University of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).

	Allocation in m euros	Variation
University of Luxembourg	908.28	+16.9%
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology	219.41	+16.8%
Luxembourg Institute of Health	182.54	+20.3%
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research	62.08	+25.7%
Luxembourg National Research Fund	294.03	+9.6%
Bonus	35.00	+90%
Total	1,701.34	+17.6%

Digitalisation and data

The University of Luxembourg will develop:

• a centre for the ethics of digitalisation that will address and anticipate the ethical, social, governmental and legal challenges of digitalisation;
• new and strengthened activities in the field of high-performance computing, data science and quantum computing, as well as digital teaching and learning, in particular through digital education, the strengthening of its media centre and a new Master in Media Studies and Digital Culture.

The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) will:

• turn its data analysis platform into a platform for artificial intelligence, data analysis and IT visualisation by integrating developments in new technologies;
• integrate digital twin in its digitalisation strategy;
• develop an innovation platform for quantum computing and quantum computing technologies.

The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) will place the patient at the centre of its activities. The research institute will be fully in line with the current paradigm shift in biomedical research, driven by the widespread adoption of disruptive technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning. and machine learning.

In partnership with the Luxembourg Institute of Health, the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) and representatives of public authorities and civil society, the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) will develop a project around the concept of “One Health” applied in Luxembourg.

Sustainable development and energy

The University of Luxembourg will develop its activities on social, societal, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development. The creation of a new interdisciplinary centre focusing on environmental systems will be a major initiative in the next four years.

The field of environmental and bioresourced technologies will be one of the cornerstones of the activities of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology over the next four years. The research institute plans to develop an innovation centre around hydrogen. In the new strategy, the objective “sustainable by design” is included for the first time.

The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) will continue to develop research to identify effective policies to reduce exposures to air pollution, to stimulate sustainable and smart mobility, to develop strategies for households to produce renewable energy, to reduce energy consumption in housing, to reduce the risks of energy poverty and mobility, to produce new jobs in the circular economy and to stimulate green finance.

Medicine and health

The University of Luxembourg will continue to develop its medical education provision, launch academic nursing programmes and pursue its commitment to excellence in biomedical and translational research, including psychosocial research.

Future research at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) will focus specifically on the areas of cancer immunology and the tumour microenvironment, immunity and the exposome, which will provide an understanding of how exposures from personal and external sources interact with unique human characteristics and affect human health.

Setting out four shared priorities

The agreements signed between Luxembourg and the University of Luxembourg, and the three public research institutes include a common chapter, setting four priorities shared by the entities: digitalisation and personalised medicine, fintech, education and training for the 21st century, and climate and energy challenges.

These four missions will be co-financed by instruments of the Luxembourg National Research Fund.

“These missions are above all a collective commitment by public research to fuel and strengthen the country’s economic and social development. The concept of the missions is based on the triple helix model, i.e. strengthened collaboration between public research, higher education and the economic world as well as society at large.”

Claude Meisch, Minister for Higher Education and Research

In addition to the missions, the University and the public research institutes have identified the following topics for enhanced cooperation:

• Joint affiliation of researchers;
• Inter-institutional research groups;
• Joint platforms and infrastructures;
• Knowledge and technology transfer;
• Doctoral education;
• Open Science.

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