LIST will host the National Composite Centre - Luxembourg" (NCC-L)

On 18 December 2015, Marc Hansen, Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Research, and Francine Closener, Secretary of State for the Economy, presented at a press conference the future "National Composite Centre - Luxembourg" (NCC-L). The actors involved in both public and private research pool their skills through a technology platform established within the Luxembourg Institute for Science and Technology" (LIST) in order to further boost in Luxembourg the development and processing of innovative materials for example in the automotive and aerospace business sectors.

The initiative to create such a centre was launched in 2013 by the "Haut comité pour le soutien, le développement et la promotion de l'industrie". Luxinnovation, with the support of several companies[1], LIST and the University of Luxembourg  then conducted the first concrete ideas to fully exploit the potential for collaboration between the private and public sectors in many fields of composite materials. A feasability study has confirmed that Luxembourg has the critical mass necessary to create such a centre of excellence.

It is estimated that the composite materials sector currently generates an annual turnover of almost Euro 400 million and employs 1,600 people. To be launched in 2016, the future national competence centre will employ 60 people when fully operational. The NCC-L is to be funded equally by private and public funds (FNR, Ministry of the Economy, Ministry of Research) up to a total of Euro 100 million over the next five years. The centre will be hosted in a first phase in the infrastructure of LIST in Bascharage and will later be relocated to Esch-Belval.

[1] Airtech Europe SA, Euro-Composites, E-Xstream, Delphi, Dupont, Glanzstoff, Goodyear, IEE, JM composites, Michelman, Performance Fibers, Reichert Technology Partners

(Picture and press release from the Ministry of the Economy and Ministry of Higher Education and Research)

On the picture from right to left: Marc Hansen, Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Research; Francine Closener, Secretary of State for the Economy