Building upon the "From Seed to Scale" roadmap, the10-point action plan intensifies Luxembourg's ongoing efforts across the five key pillars of the roadmap: supporting early-stage startups, strengthening the ecosystem, improving access to talent, fostering scale-up growth, and integrating with EU initiatives. In addition to incentivising private investments, the plan introduces several other concrete measures to create a more dynamic and attractive environment for innovative companies and entrepreneurs.
To achieve this ambitious goal, the Société Nationale de Crédit et d'Investissement (SNCI) will dedicate an additional €300 million over the next five years. This funding will specifically target companies in strategic sectors such as cybersecurity, deeptech, sustainable technologies, healthtech, space, and fintech. This new commitment adds to SNCI’s previous deployment of €280 million through the Luxembourg Future Fund 1 and 2.
"With this 10-point action plan, our objective is clear: we want to provide concrete support to our startups and scaleups at every stage of their development, while strengthening the attractiveness of our ecosystem for international talent and investors. The various measures announced demonstrate our joint commitment to making Luxembourg a leading innovation hub in Europe. This plan underlines the crucial role of startups and scaleups as a key driver of innovation for our economy and a cornerstone of Luxembourg's efforts to strengthen its international competitiveness," explains Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism Lex Delles.
Supporting new startups, investment and spin-offs
The plan kicks off with direct measures to fuel the creation of new companies and high-potential spin-offs:
- Tax credit incentive: To unlock private capital, the government will introduce a new bill offering a compelling tax credit to individual taxpayers who invest in young, innovative Luxembourg-based companies.
- €200,000 spin-off aid and sectoral incubators: Starting May 2025, a dedicated financial aid programme specifically designed to propel the creation and financing of spin-off companies will be launched. This initiative will provide up to 80% public co-financing, capped at €200,000 per project, requiring a minimum 20% private investment. Concurrently, the plan foresees the development of specialised incubators in the healthtech, space, and automobility sectors.
Scaling high-potential startups with dedicated support mechanisms
The plan equally introduces targeted actions for the growth of high-potential startups:
- Scaleup support programme: Leveraging insights from a one-year pilot programme managed by Luxinnovation, a full-fledged scaleup support programme will be officially launched by the end of 2025.
- Venture capital investment: The government will further assess and identify the most relevant financial programmes to channel increased investment into venture capital.
- Tax incentives and stock options: The plan proposes tax advantages for stock options offered to startup employees. This makes working for a Luxembourg startup even more attractive.
- National talent desk: the Ministry of the Economy, in collaboration with Luxinnovation, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Skilled Crafts, will set up a national “talent desk” as a central contact point to guide international talents seeking to join companies in Luxembourg.
Building a world-class ecosystem: new technologies and synergies
The final pillar of the plan focuses on strengthening the overall ecosystem, fostering collaboration, leveraging the tech expertise and infrastructure available.
- LHoFT AI Experience Center development: The Luxembourg House of Financial Technologies (LHoFT) is further developing its AI Experience Center, capitalising on the financial center’s expertise to attract even more fintech companies and VCs to Luxembourg.
- AI Factory implementation: In 2024, Luxembourg was selected to host one of seven European “AI Factories”. The plan foresees the concrete rollout of the project within the priority sectors.
- Connecting startups and scaleups with investors: The action plan also aims to solidify the Luxembourg Venture Days as a premier international conference empowering startup founders by linking them with global investors. The third edition, scheduled for 22 to 23 October, will be a focal point in this strategy.
- Cross-sector synergies: To further encourage collaboration, LHoFT and Startup Luxembourg will curate events to bridge gaps between sectors and stakeholders. These events will connect fintech with other key sectors like space, healthtech, automotive, and digital technologies in Luxembourg.
Luxinnovation
