Through a web platform, Luxembourg players in materials and manufacturing now have a dedicated space to exchange information and expertise by making specialised equipment available to others.
Jean-Michel Gaudron
Connecting specialists, exchanging expertise, facilitating contacts: these are all activities characteristic of sectoral clusters managed by Luxinnovation. More specifically, the Luxembourg Materials & Manufacturing Cluster can now rely on a true collaborative tool: the Virtual Lab.
"This stems from a demand from the companies we interact with daily, who are delighted to have such a collaborative tool," explains Caroline Muller, Cluster Manager - Materials & Manufacturing. This website extends, and improves upon, the former cluster app implemented three years ago.
Concretely, the Virtual Lab is a dedicated online space, strictly reserved for Luxembourg players in materials and manufacturing. "It is not a commercial platform, but rather a trusted environment where everyone feels free to exchange," says Ms Muller. No one has anything to sell there. However, users – once their registration is validated – have full access to a database of laboratory or measurement equipment in Luxembourg, managed by local companies. The goal is to pool these resources to avoid high investments and foster expertise exchange among partners.
To date, more than thirty companies are registered on the platform, and over 100 pieces of equipment are listed, provided by about ten technical experts. "For now, the listed equipment concerns laboratory and measurement equipment. But we could eventually expand the possibility to include pilot production or larger-scale devices," explains Ms Muller.
Beyond this purely logistical aspect, organisations registered in the virtual lab can also directly engage with experts from different companies, publish their events, or discuss various topics.
"Companies are, of course, always encouraged to list on this platform any available equipment they wish to make available to other actors on an ad-hoc basis; this tool must be vibrant and dynamic," concludes Ms Muller.
