National Research Priorities

Luxembourg aspires to become a more knowledge‑based, data‑driven economy that leverages digitalisation to branch out into diverse industries and offer high value‑added services. Scientific excellence will provide this process with a robust foundation to foster innovation and guarantee competitiveness as well as resilience and sustainability for Luxembourg’s rapidly evolving industry and tertiary sector.

Research will further support the existing national economic focus areas of advanced materials, space components and technologies as well as automation and robotics. Artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies and advanced data analytics will impact research in these domains as enabling technologies. The combination of these technologies will speed up modelling, simulation and optimisation tasks, boost automation capabilities and enable new engineering opportunities and transformative services. In this context, software engineering will be a strategic focus area.

To deliver a trusted, human‑centred technology ecosystem capable of secure and reliable human‑machine collaboration that adequately addresses all concerns, research efforts need to span materials and hardware technologies, software tools, communications systems and data handling.

Luxembourg’s ambition is to become a leading international hub for data‑driven personalised digital medicine. To this end, genomics, advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence will be leveraged to transform medicine from a “one‑size‑fits‑all” approach towards precision prevention, diagnosis and treatment. To realise this vision, robust biomedical and translational research are needed to drive innovation towards a more effective and sustainable healthcare system with direct and measurable patient impact.

One of Luxembourg’s ambitions is to establish a secure, interoperable and ethically governed national genomic data platform that can be leveraged for both research and clinical applications. Luxembourg takes a holistic view on health, recognising that biological factors interact with behaviour, environment and socio‑economic determinants. Research will explore how these drivers interact with biology and genetics to affect health and translate into tailored prevention, early interventions and/or behavioural changes.

Luxembourg will also look beyond biomedical research by embracing collaboration with social sciences, environmental sciences, public health and health economics to improve our understanding of disease and population‑level health. Research questions will include understanding the impacts of chemical exposures and pollution on health, as well as assessing the cost‑effectiveness, equity and sustainability of personalised health interventions.

Luxembourg will continue to expand and develop methods to evaluate the performance of health systems. Research will examine how financing, delivery and regulation affect equity, quality and efficiency. Innovative clinical trial design coupled with novel causal inference methods will ensure research can be translated into tangible patient benefit.

ICT and biomedical researchers will work closely together to develop digital health tools and AI‑based analytics to support clinical needs and define best practices to enable the secure secondary use of health data for research and innovation. In pursuing efforts to improve individual health, Luxembourg acknowledges the importance of the societal, economic, legal and regulatory issues surrounding digital health data.

Luxembourg embraces the United Nations 2030 Agenda and aligns its research agenda with the Sustainable Development Goals defined therein. Luxembourg prioritises research projects in four areas covering all aspects of sustainability: the ecological, societal and economic pillars as well as the regulatory framework.

Digital technologies play an important role in accelerating ecological transition efforts. Areas such as AI, big data and intelligent systems already enable many applications related to monitoring in real‑time, optimisation of resources, predictive maintenance or the development of smart grids and networks, intelligent mobility or precision farming. Digitalisation must also be accompanied by ethical governance frameworks that consider privacy protection and social fairness.

Luxembourg views sustainability as a global responsibility and will work on an international level to make progress in climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and sustainable finance. This includes researching green transition topics such as energy efficiency and renewable energies as well as supporting research on technologies contributing to the carbon-neutrality goal. Innovative solutions for smart energy management as well as circular construction and sustainable urban planning will help Luxembourg build a climate-resilient infrastructure.

Research in food systems and ecosystems will focus on sustainable agriculture and food production, protection and restoration of biodiversity and carbon storage as well as adaptation to climate change, underpinned by research in ecological sciences, precision agriculture and circular bioeconomic models.

Social sustainability is also an essential pillar of sustainability. Topics such as migration, social cohesion and cultural identity as well as the social impact of climate change and labour‑market transformations will be addressed by Luxembourgish research. Innovation will also be researched in terms of sustainable finance and bioeconomic business models to enable Luxembourg to continue growing responsibly.

Digitalisation also requires resilient legal and ethical frameworks. Luxembourg will focus its research efforts on topics such as data governance, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies as well as cybersecurity‑by‑design and enabling regulation to drive sustainable, democratic and data‑centric development.

Education and training are critical components of societal health. They determine employment prospects, civic engagement and economic competitiveness. The accelerated digitalisation of the 21st century is already disrupting existing job profiles. Upskilling and reskilling the current and future Luxembourgish workforce will be paramount. Anticipating skills needs and adapting education and training provision accordingly will require regular monitoring and flexible policymaking.

The phenomenon of technology‑assisted learning has become an academic discipline in itself at the intersection of pedagogy, psychology, computer science and digital innovation. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual reality, extended reality and connectivity are enabling new methods for more personalised learning experiences at scale. However, they also prompt ethical questions, have been implemented at inconsistent rates and could potentially exacerbate the digital divide.

In addition to transversal skills such as analytical thinking, creativity, digital literacy, adaptability, resilience and cross-cultural skills, future employees will require mastery of skills that are currently only possessed by a minority of the workforce. The concept of lifelong learning is also rapidly evolving to mean less ‘updating’ of existing skills and more quickly learning new skills as career paths change. Many of these considerations are directly linked to the continued drive for Luxembourg to provide equitable and high‑quality education for all citizens, despite rapid demographic shifts and a multilingual population.

Special consideration should be given to approaches that consider linguistic and cultural diversity as a strength. Educational technology has the potential to remove language barriers to provide all learners with equal access to educational resources, as well as to create personalised learning journeys based on the learner’s mother tongue and language competency needs.

The applications of AI in education go even further, with algorithms providing personalised content and recommendations to learners, automating instructions for teachers, providing learners with instant feedback, and powering intelligent tutoring systems. Other examples include language translation tools, immersive virtual simulations, and improved formative assessment techniques.

The future of work will undoubtedly involve more automation and therefore continuous skills development. The Grand Duchy strives to become a frontrunner in adult education through the development of research initiatives and platforms to assess skill gaps in the workforce and to provide recommendations for specific upskilling and retraining initiatives. Being seen as internationally innovative and competitive in this area of adult education is also an essential element for talent attraction and retention.