The "Third Industrial Revolution (TIR)" strategic study was conducted in 2016 to support Luxembourg's ecological and digital transition. The reflections during this participatory process contributed to the country's economic policy orientation.
At the beginning of 2021, the three historical partners, the Ministry of the Economy, the Chamber of Commerce and IMS Luxembourg, decided to carry out a "2021 inventory" of the 49 strategic measures of the TIR and, thus, an assessment of the projects carried out since its publication.
This inventory shows that many measures resulting from the TIR process have been implemented over the last few years without necessarily being identified as directly related to this process. Following this review, it is now helpful to broaden the initial perspective.
The current context has changed:
- The pandemic has revealed specific vulnerabilities in society and the economy.
- The megatrends identified in the TIR study have accelerated significantly.
- New international and EU obligations have arisen from the challenges posed by climate change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically.
- The resilience of the economy and society at large has thus become a critical issue.
In his preface to the state of play, Economics Minister Franz Fayot points out: [...]
There is a real need and desire to pursue forward-looking discussions openly and holistically, without sectoral compartmentalisation. I fully share this wish, and I conclude that it is essential to put in place new governance for the process launched five years ago
Nancy Thomas, Director of IMS Luxembourg, and Carlo Thelen, Director General of the Chamber of Commerce, added that "The mobilisation of all the driving forces, the implementation of the measures already identified and the prioritisation of projects, particularly in the light of the current health and economic crisis, must be at the heart of future work"
"Luxembourg Stratégie" will continue foresight discussions within the Ministry of the Economy. Its role is the long-term strategic exploration of the economy, reconciling material, environmental and spatial constraints with the needs of society and businesses. "Luxembourg Strategy" will broaden and deepen the reflections launched in the context of the TIR strategic study to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable and resilient economy and will set up further discussions in an open forum with a holistic and collaborative approach.
2021 STATUS REPORT ON THE 49 STRATEGIC MEASURES
Communicated by the Ministry of Economy / Chamber of Commerce / IMS Luxembourg
Today, a transition is underway, heading towards a fundamental paradigm shift, and Luxembourg is the first country to prepare for the change at the national level. In September 2015, the Ministry of Economy, the Chamber of Commerce and IMS Luxembourg launched the “Third Industrial Revolution” (TIR) project in Luxembourg.
The project, inspired by the social and economic theories of Jeremy Rifkin, aims to make the existing economic model more sustainable and interconnected for future generations by working with ICT, energy and transport as part of an intelligent network.
The Grand Duchy becomes the ideal testing ground to try out the different innovative strategies on a real and national scale. The project and the strategies resulted from a one-year-long participatory process involving more than 300 national and international socio-economic stakeholders.
The results of the Strategic Study on the Third Industrial Revolution in Luxembourg and the first nine measures adopted by the Council of the Government were officially presented at the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum on the 14th of November, 2016.
Read the summary of the strategic study (140 pages)
Read the complete strategic study (475 pages)
Discover the documentary fiction broadcasted during the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum 2016:
Six projects awarded at Luxembourg Sustainability Forum
The “People’s Vote Projects” prizes were awarded during the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum 2017. With 100 seconds each, the 18 organisations presented innovative practices relating to the Third Industrial Revolution. The Forum’s audience voted in real-time.
The Prize winners:
Click on the organisations to discover projects in the video
Energy: Creos – Deployment of 800 public charging stations
Mobility: PwC – Carpooling
Building: Coeba, Dave Lefèvre et Associés – Natural Materials’ return
Food: OUNI – Zero packaging
Industry: AMA Mundu Technologies – When agricultural effluents are transformed into pure water and recoverable material
Finance: Microlux – First microfinance institution in Luxembourg
All pitch was very creative, demonstrating that the Third Industrial Revolution was already in progress in Luxembourg.
Discover the 18 projects presented at the Forum here.
Third Industrial Revolution: from Theory to Practice
IMS Luxembourg would like to support its members in implementing concrete measures tied to this strategic framework, thus promoting best practices across its network. To do so, IMS is organising six innovative events throughout 2018 and 2019.
- FOOD: An interactive lunch took place on March 14th 2018, where IMS concretely illustrated the efforts undertaken by four companies in the Luxembourg food sector spanning sustainable development, traceability and waste prevention. Mr Camille Gira, Secretary of State for Sustainable Development, participated in this event and highlighted the opportunities to innovate at all levels of the food chain.
- MOBILITY: The mobility of the Third Industrial Revolution in practice! The Positive Drive campaign has enabled a business district to experience many of the ingredients of reinvented mobility, including multimodality, digital and soft mobility. Many employees of IMS member organizations located in the Kirchberg area participated. This campaign's results and grand prize were announced, an opportunity to review tangible progress in mobility since the launch of the Third Industrial Revolution strategy in Luxembourg.
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Luxembourg honoured at HEC Paris
HEC Paris' Society & Organizations (SnO) Center and HEC Alumni organised their annual conference: “Alliances for Cities in Transition”. Shedding light on multi-actor initiatives to build tomorrow's sustainable, inclusive and resilient territories, HEC Paris invited IMS Luxembourg to organise and moderate a panel showcasing the Third Industrial Revolution in the Grand Duchy.
