Reflections on the Luxembourg & Greater Region (GR) Business Days 2015
GR Business Days, which took place on the Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th June, has become an important rendez-vous for business, SME’s and innovative start-ups. Clearly, GR Business Days which is organized by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce is now more than just a show, demonstrating the considerable dynamism of the Greater Region internationally.
The purpose of the 4th edition of this popular trade show, which is oriented B2B (business to business), is to further develop business and commerce between all the economic players in the ‘ecosystem’ of the Greater Region. The idea, born by the Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, is to help businesses by contributing to what they know best by exchanging and collaborating more efficiently together.
There were over 240 exhibitors (a 2.5% increase from last year), with around 50% being foreign organisations. There was a somewhat surprising delegation from Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and the Netherlands, who were stakeholders in the 2015 edition, but also the presence of the province of Kocaeli, Turkey, "Region of Honor" who were joined by representatives from Tunisia, China, India and Senegal where foreign investors from the region are already present. A special space was dedicated to foreign delegations in the hall.
Many interesting bilateral meetings, thematic workshops and interactive lectures were offered to exhibitors and visitors. In 2014 there were apparently around 700 pre-registrations of visitors and that increased, this year, to 1,200, showing just how popular the event is becoming. At the close of the first day there was a conference with enthusiastic ministers and delegates from the region. The representative from Saarland opened the discussion on the idea that the region would like to emulate Luxembourg by developing ‘multi-lingual’ exchanges based in French and German even though one might imagine that English is clearly, on the ground, the language of business.
I met Sylvia Mann who is responsible for communication at Nyuko, a company created in April 2015, which specialises in assisting start-ups in Luxembourg and the Greater Region through their 123GO social and innovation entrepreneur programs. She believes the show is a must, providing another opportunity to reach a wider public and helping them to come forward.
Exhibiters were “encouraged to do a short videoed presentation of their business which was included in the package”, Luke Firth of Firth Improvement told me. At the end of the first day there was a conference entitled ‘The major challenges for the Greater Region in an international context: For a better identity and enhanced attractiveness on European and international markets’ with ministers from across the region.
At the closing ceremony on the first day Pierre Gramegna the Minister of Finance for Luxembourg gave a speech and was complemented for his part in creating GR Business Days 4 years ago. A huge cake in the form of a map was presented to celebrate the 20th year of the creation of the Greater Region and this was followed by a ‘stand-up’ dinner with ambient piano music offered to the public.
