A driver for the innovation economy

The creation of the Luxembourg Institute of Technology (LIST) in January 2015 marks a significant next phase for the country’s ambitious and to date very successful research strategy. New CEO Professor Gabriel Crean has a clear vision for LIST as an engine for innovation and reindustrialisation, using to the full its scientific and technological excellence and international profile to provide the strongest support for innovative businesses in Luxembourg and beyond.

Source : Focus 10
Date de publication : 16/10/2015

“If the 2008 financial crisis taught us anything, it was that Europe’s economies need to be more resilient,” says Professor Crean. “There is only one way to do this – recognise the value in new ideas, do the cutting-edge technological research, create real products and services and send them out into the world. This is how I see LIST – as an innovation engine, giving companies the support they need to realise their innovative R&D projects and speed their prototype products and services into the global market.”

Professor Crean describes LIST as a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) with an international reach and standing. “We have 630 research development and innovation staff from 42 countries,” he says. “We aim to achieve deep critical mass and a strong impact in our target research areas. LIST has the potential to make a big difference.”

More than the sum of its parts

LIST was established in early 2015 through the merger of the Public Research Centres Gabriel Lippmann and Henri Tudor, both established in 1987 and each with strong reputations for the quality of their research and their staff. The merger provided Luxembourg with a unique dual opportunity, not only to streamline and harmonise the work of the two centres, but also to target the strategy of the new organisation even more firmly at providing support for an innovation-driven Luxembourg economy. LIST therefore places a very strong emphasis on working with the private sector via strategic research partnerships.

To achieve this, LIST focuses on the research fields that make the most significant contribution to economic diversification in Luxembourg. The new LIST is structured into three main areas: Materials, including advanced materials and nanotechnology; IT, with a particular emphasis on innovation in services; and Environment, with a brief to focus on ways of monitoring and safeguarding natural and renewable resources. “I am particularly excited about our new premises in Belval,” says Professor Crean. “It’s ideal – we will be in the same district as the University, Luxinnovation and the Technoport business incubator.”

From plant fibre to bio-bricks

Professor Crean uses a practical example to describe the process from applied research to commercial product. In the case of “Bio-bricks” – materials created from plant fibre and used in sustainable construction – researchers first develop a means to enhance the crop yields of the plants providing the fibre. Next, they conduct a full analysis of the fibre’s properties, behaviour and suitability for intended use. Third, they produce prototypes of the final product and subject them to a series of tests. With this process complete, the bio-brick process technology can be handed over to Luxembourg’s industrial sector; in this case, to concrete products manufacturer Chaux de Contern.

A test lab for the world

“The fact that Luxembourg is small is actually one of its biggest strengths,” says Professor Crean. “And the government is very accessible and responsive. The way I see it, Luxembourg can be a European test lab for innovative products and services. We can develop and test them here in Europe and rest of the world.”

As a further example, Professor Crean points to LIST’s collaboration with local start-up Airboxlab on its air quality predictor Foobot. This system, designed to help users reduce their exposure to pollution, uses smart devices to measure the levels of humidity, temperature, volatile organic compounds and fine particles in indoor air. The e-Science unit at LIST is working on the analysis and visualisation of the data and developing algorithms to produce the air quality reports.

Multinational experience

Professor Crean has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Trinity College, Dublin and a PhD in Physics and Material Science from the Université Scientifique, Technologique et Médicale de Grenoble. In Ireland, he served as Director of the Tyndall National Institute, the country's leading ICT research centre, as Professor of Microelectronics at University College Cork and as Vice President for Research and Innovation at the Athlone Institute of Technology. In France, he joined the CEA as Scientific Director, later becoming Vice President for Technology and Director for Europe, and he is a visiting professor and research policy adviser to the President of the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Technology of Wroclaw, Poland.

Professor Crean chaired the Sherpa Group on the European Commission’s Key Enabling Technologies (KET) initiative and is on the board of the European Commission Mirror Group on Smart Specialisation. He also has experience as an entrepreneur and has launched several start-up companies.