Trade mission to Moscow and accompanied visit to the Skolkovo Open Innovations Forum

International Affairs

From October 14^th to 17^th, the Chamber of Commerce of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, in close collaboration with Luxinnovation and the Embassy of Luxembourg in Moscow, organized an accompanied visit to the Skolkovo Open Innovations Forum preceded by an economic mission to Moscow. The commercial delegation, led by the Chamber of Commerce of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, was composed of 24 companies with a total of 40 company representatives of a variety of sectors, as well as eight institutional partners including the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. The last visit of the Chamber of Commerce to the Moscow Open Innovation Forum dates back to 2015.

According to the Luxembourgish statistics portal (STATEC), the Grand Duchy’s exports to Russia have stabilized since 2014 and are currently increasing again. In concrete figures: last year, Luxembourg exported roughly over 151 000 000€ worth of goods to Russia (greatly through to the sale of heavy machinery, plastics and metals) and 237 000 000€ in services and imported a mere 14 000 000 € worth of products, yet 147 000 000€ worth of services. This balance sheet, in itself quite impressive, is far away from having achieved our limits. Russia’s prime geographic situation has allowed the country to tie a strong network with its neighbors in Europe, in Central Asia and in the Far East. Despite the EU-Russia sanctions and the somewhat acrimonious political climate, business opportunities between the world’s largest country and Luxembourg, the second-smallest country in the European Union, could be plentiful.

The aim of this mission was to explore possible future economic cooperation and business opportunities in a variety of sectors, with a focus on innovation. The Trade Mission to Moscow granted a great opportunity for Luxembourg companies to establish new business links and get in touch with local key partners they can turn to in order to get assistance and advice regarding access to this region.

The trade mission began with the first of its kind Luxembourg – Russia Business Forum held in the premises of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (CCIRF) on October 15th. The premises, previously used as the old Moscow Stock Exchange, served as an ideal location for tailor-made Business-to-Business meetings organized between Luxembourg-based and local companies before kicking off the forum’s plenary session. The latter, presenting the latest economic and innovative developments in both countries, was composed of Mr. Katyrin, President of the CCIRF, Mr. Padalko and Mr. Kurochkin, Vice-Presidents of the CCIRF, Mr. Stepanov, Head of Division of the Institute of Innovation Management at the Moscow Higher School of Economics, H.E. Mr. Knebeler, Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to Russia, Mr. Cresswell, Head of International Affairs at Luxinnovation and Mr. Erpelding, Director International Affairs at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce.

The Plenary Session was concluded with the signature of a cooperation agreement between the two Chambers of Commerce, and was followed by an expert panel on Innovation, moderated by Mr. Foy, Head of Sector Development - Digital Economy at Luxinnovation.

During said panel, Mrs. Huizinga (Deloitte), Mrs. Tkachenko (Ziffer) and Mr. Wiertz (Paul Wurth InCub’) presented Luxembourgish success stories, its investment climate, recent infrastructural and industrial developments, whereas the Russian side, i.e. Mr. Volostnov (Frost & Sullivan), Mr. Arseniev (RusITExport) and Mr. Amelin (Investing Russia) showcased the recent public and private initiatives of the Russian Federation. The first Luxembourg – Russia Business Forum and the delegation’s first day in Moscow came to an end with a networking reception held at the Ritz-Carlton Moscow, to which the members of the delegation could invite business partners and prospects.

On the second day of the mission, October 16^th, the Chamber of Commerce organized an accompanied visit to the Skolkovo Open Innovations Forum, Russia’s leading platform for technology, entrepreneurs and corporations to find new opportunities for development, connect with investors, partners and officials.

The Open Innovations Forum, with its 21.000 visitors, was one of the largest events in Russia and 2018 showcased its 7^th edition. The Forum focuses on future technologies in the modern human society, economy and everyday life. The main topic was Humanity in the Center of the Technological Revolution. The program comprises five specific spheres of the human life that are dramatically changing under the impact of technologies – productivity, habitat, education, health and entertainment/arts.

The Skolkovo Foundation, with whom Luxinnovation signed a Memoradum of Understanding (aiming to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the field of innovation and new technologies), offered the Luxembourg delegation an accompanied visit of the fair as well as their campus, which offers shared and/or individual facilities to its tenants (over 1600 startups), including but not limited to laboratories, co-working space and financing bodies. The visit particularly shed a light onto biomedical start-ups which develop groundbreaking solutions, such as cheap and quick illness prevention-kits or an open p2p biopsy-analysis platform that allows for a greater number of medical opinions.

A number of Skolkovo startup have already found their way to Luxembourg though the existing cooperation cultivated by the Skolkovo Foundation and Luxinnovation, in order to facilitate their globalization and access to the EU market. Luxinnovation previously made contacts in Russia and has seen these companies quickly becoming ambassadors for the Luxembourg economy, specifically in the start-up community where a snowball effect is currently developing. The companies in question keep choosing Luxembourg as their European Hub due to its ideal environment with access to grants and personnel and its logistic facilities. The day-long visit was wrapped up with a dinner reception held at the Embassy of Luxembourg in Moscow, which allowed the delegation to make contact with the Embassy’s extensive network.

The third and last day allowed for a very interesting visit of Artec 3D’s Moscow office. Artec 3D is a global leader in handheld 3D scanners that has been at the forefront of innovative 3D technology since 2007. The company develops and manufactures the high quality, yet easy to use portable 3D scanners, smart, user-friendly 3D software and an SDK that provides the best integration possibilities, whatever the application. With a worldwide presence and a large number of global clients, Artec 3D supplies state of the art 3D technology to the areas of industrial design, healthcare, science, education, art and design. Besides their offices in Moscow and in the Silicon Valley, Artec chose Luxembourg as their Europe Hub a few years ago and are now manufacturing and assembling their scanners in the Grand-Duchy, earning the company the “Made in Luxembourg” label. One lucky participant had the privilege to get a full body scan which can later be 3D printed.

Being the first company to ever scan an American president, producing 3D prosthetics for children with ear deformities or scanning the Terminator himself for the film industry are just a few highlights amongst their many accomplishments which makes them a real Russian-Luxembourgish success story.

The company visit as well as the subsequent farewell lunch concluded a trade mission that, all in all, provided fresh opportunities to strengthen bilateral business contacts and promote economic cooperation with the world’s largest country.