Patrizia Luchetta

Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade

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I was recruited by the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade in 2007 to develop a Health Sciences and Technology Hub to help strengthen and diversify Luxembourg’s economic fabric. While there I

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• Developed and implemented an overall strategy (a niche-based approach in “personalized medicine”) and 5-year business plan

• Gained buy-in from Luxembourg government officials/politicians, research institutes, hospitals, trade unions

• Identified strategic US partners to kickstart the project

• Identified appropriate instruments and incentives (financial, infrastructure, business support)

• Developed promotional tools to attract companies to Luxembourg

• Selected a biotech venture capital fund in which the Luxembourg government invested

• Assessed business plans of companies applying for grants

• Worked with Advent Ventures (London) on due diligence of biotech companies.

 

Ultimately Luxembourg invested 140 million euros over 5 years resulting in two internationally recognized entities:

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• The Luxembourg Center for Systems Biomedicine (created in 2009, now employing more than 250 people) and

• The Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (40 employees).

 

In my capacity as a Deputy Director for the Scandinavian countries and Israel, I oversaw and directed the Ministry’s activities in those countries and organized sectoral economic missions.

 

In 2011, the Ministry gave me responsibility for the strategic development of the cleantech sector.