On the sidelines of the Vivatech trade fair, where Luxembourg's start-up ecosystem will be represented in a national pavilion, Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot announced that Luxembourg has joined ESNA, the European Startup Nation Alliance, which aims to improve the European entrepreneurial ecosystem. The national innovation agency, Luxinnovation, will represent the country within this European alliance.

ESNA is a non-profit association founded during the Portuguese Presidency of the EU council at the end of 2021, pursuant to the "EU Startup Nations Standard of Excellence" declaration of 19 March 2021, of which Luxembourg is a co-signatory. It specifically works to implement common standards, to support and encourage national policies relating to entrepreneurial ecosystems in partner countries, to identify and share best practices in order to encourage their deployment, and to set up a common European digital platform, notably through the collection of data from each partner country, which could in the medium term serve as a European one-stop shop for startups policy-makers.

"Over the next few years, ESNA could become an important player at European level in catalysing and developing policies to support innovative start-ups, as well as measuring their impact,” notes Minister Fayot. "Our participation in this association is a matter of course, and forms part of the roadmap for the development of the start-up ecosystem. It's an important step in raising the profile and visibility of our ecosystem at the European level.”

Luxembourg joins ESNA via its national innovation agency Luxinnovation, along with five other countries, so that the European Startup Nation Alliance now counts 15 members.

"Since 2019, Luxinnovation has been piloting the Startup Luxembourg initiative, the national brand created to promote our start-up ecosystem internationally and facilitate networking and business opportunities. It was therefore natural for us to become a member of ESNA, which will enable us to strengthen our means of increasing the visibility of our start-ups and all the players in this ecosystem," commented Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation.

“We are very pleased to welcome Luxembourg into the ESNA family through our esteemed partner, Luxinnovation," added Arthur Jordão, Executive Director at ESNA. "Luxembourg's inclusion further strengthens our mission to unite European nations and create a vibrant, collaborative ecosystem that supports start-up policy makers. We are eager to start engaging with our new member on the work ahead. Their expertise will undoubtedly enrich our collective efforts and foster new learning and sharing best practices opportunities."