Partnership Day 2023: The Future is Here

“When you speak about the future, it is important that you have partners today. (…) Partners that trust in your work already. What has been achieved in the last two decades is really incredible: Because of you we are not followers in technology, but we are a leading country in new technology.” It is with these words that Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, H.E. Xavier Bettel lauded University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre of Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) during his opening speech at the SnT Partnership Day 2023. 

The SnT flagship event took place on 11 May 2023 at the European Convention Centre Luxembourg and attracted more than 500 participants from the space, finance, industry, public sectors, and research. It featured speeches from H.E. Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, University of Luxembourg Rector Prof. Jens Kreisel, and SnT Director Prof. Björn Ottersten. Highlighting that “The Future is Here”, the Interdisciplinary Centre of Security, Reliability and Trust celebrated its achievements and partnerships, which are collaborative research projects with the public and the private sector. Through research collaboration, SnT's partnerships promote the production of innovative ideas for our future.  

H.E. Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, reflected on research and innovation in Luxembourg.

The event was hosted by Dr. Carlo Duprel, Head of SnT Technology Transfer Office and Partnership, who opened Partnership Day 2023: “Today, we celebrate the brilliant work of our researchers and the pioneering work we undertake together with our partners. On Partnership Day, we look back at what we have done in the past and we take a perspective on where we are going. We do this because together we can translate the state-of-the-art research into successful business solutions, address societal challenges, and initiate positive change.” In his speech, Duprel reflected on the rise and fall of new technologies and the importance of a rational scientific view on their potential.  

“I am convinced that a very large part of SnT’s success is due to partnership. All the big questions be they health, be they climate, be they democracy, or the digital transition cannot be done alone. (…) At the University, SnT was the pioneer of this partnership principle, and the success can be seen here today. It's a pleasure to see so many partners here today, and I congratulate the founding director of SnT for this strategic positioning.” This statement by University of Luxembourg’s Rector Kreisel honoured Director Ottersten’s vision when launching the SnT in 2009. The 2023 edition was the last SnT Partnership Day under the lead of Ottersten. His successor will be Prof. Yves Le Traon from 1 January 2024. 

SnT’s Director Ottersten took the stage to reflect on the 18 months since the last Partnership Day. He emphasised that SnT had a record year in terms of acquiring external funding, with an increase of almost 50% in European projects. Ottersten welcomed several new SnT partnerships and additionally stated: “We are especially proud of the new projects we've launched with existing partners. We are dedicated to building long-term relationships and we think it is an excellent sign that we deliver value, when a partner chooses to launch a new project.” 

Ottersten continued to highlight some of SnT’s milestone achievements, such as the launch of the Finnovation Hub and the National Centre of Excellence in Financial Technologies (NCER-FT). Thanks to SnT, in 2022 the first autonomous vehicle drove in live traffic with members of the public as passengers. Another milestone was that SnT launched its first hardware into space in collaboration with the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB). In addition, SnT took the first steps towards creating a national test bed for quantum communications, already linking it to corresponding European activities. All of these initiatives were accompanied by a record number of publications in highly renowned academic venues reflecting the continued excellence of SnT's research.

More than 500 participants attended the SnT Partnership Day 2023.

Ruy Pinto, Chief Technology Officer of SES, took the floor to deliver his keynote about SES’s vision of an integrated multi-orbit space architecture. SES is one of the world’s leading satellite owners and operators, and partners with SnT for 13 years. According to Pinto, SES is planning to build a mesh network of satellites on three different orbits, serving different purposes and customers. On the one hand, he highlighted the advantages of this architecture, e.g., for providing high-speed internet connectivity on a cruise ship. On the other hand, he pointed to technical challenges and future research directions. “We have been a partner (of SnT, …) on AI for resource controlling, using network optimisation on supercomputers to optimise how we use our resources, our frequencies. Frequencies are scarce, scarce resources. You try to reduce (their use) as much as you can.” 

Following the keynote, five SnT researchers held flashtalks about the partner projects they are conducting, in particular:  

• Dr. Junaid Ur Rehman​ held a session on “Quantum Communications Infrastructure in Luxembourg​”. 
• Dr. Flor de Guadalupe Oritz-Gomez held a session on “Artificial Intelligence and ​Machine Learning for Satellite Communications with SES​”. 
• Dr. Mohammad Alaee-Kerahroodi held a session on “Indoor Radar Sensing with IEE“. 
• Dr. Cedric Lothritz held a session on “LuxemBERT Language Model with BGL BNP Paribas​”. 
• Dr. Tamara Roth held a session on the “Use of Digital Identities with the Luxembourgish Ministry for Digitalisation”. 

All participants were then invited to join guided tours visiting the 30+ demo stands, where SnT researchers presented their projects. The demos highlighted research projects in fields such as satellite communications, space robotics, quantum communications, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, FinTech solutions, distributed ledger technologies, energy transition, and many others. Five stands presented projects supported by SnT’s entrepreneurial Acceleration Programme. At the closing reception, researchers and practitioners had the opportunity to network and explore collaboration opportunities – together for the future. 

Do you want to get more insights? Have a look at our photo gallery of the event or contact us.