Upon reaching the six-month mark as Cluster Manager – Creative Industries, at Luxinnovation, Marc Lis provided us with an overview of the activities of this young and energetic cluster.
Since May 2017, Marc Lis has been managing the Creative Industries Cluster in Luxembourg. The primary goal is to gather together companies and organisations who conduct various creative activities including design, media, and architecture amongst others.
The mission of the cluster is to raise awareness for the contribution to the Luxembourgish economy of the combined creative industries in Luxembourg, and to support business needs, create greater visibility and push the sector forward.
Marc has being working hard to make the mission known starting with a well-attended inauguration event that was held at Luxembourg’s temporary City Skyliner ride, which offered a first networking event and a chance for Marc to speak to some of the creative companies in Luxembourg. It also allowed the cluster members the opportunity to present themselves, their activities and areas of expertise to their peers. Most importantly perhaps, it allowed everyone from the outset who was interested to communicate what his or her expectations were and therefore have an initial “buy-in”.
In the still early stages, Marc has put a lot of focus on attracting members and will continue to do so, as there is strength in numbers. Often, (although not always) creative industry companies run from small to medium size, so the greater the number and the more committed the members to working together the more beneficial the activities are to all the members. As of January 15, 2018, there have been 111 members officially announced and 138 confirmed members
In addition to the cluster gathering momentum, some of the more recent highlights have included two workshops. An update on these will be forthcoming.
According to Marc, “the Business Model Canvas workshop, held in December 2017, and led by Gaston Trauffler, PhD and Head of Strategic Projects, IT & Quality Management, was the first workshop in a series aimed at helping creatives get started with a defined value proposition (or to even find that value proposition). Our aim is to offer additional workshop modules next year together with the House of Entrepreneurship, and these will include such practical but critical matters as, billing, VAT, tax and, moreover, getting to grips with the intricacies of intellectual property with the help of IPIL.
An upcoming milestone that should prove strategic for the cluster is the new central website that is currently being designed and developed. This microsite will serve as a holding page until the main website will be ready by March/ April 2018. The Future Online Hub for Creatives workshop, which took place in December 2017, was in line with this project – involving our members in the creation process by listening to their needs and expectations.”
Other events were also held, including Luxinnovation’s sponsorship of Sonic Visions, the Music Conference & Festival that celebrated its 10th anniversary with a successful move to the new festival site at the blast furnaces of Esch – Belval. At this event on November 17, 2017, a forum was held called “Creative Minds for Business”. During the panel topics such as education and training, funding, various guests active in the creative music industry or willing to develop their activity in a sustainable and professional way in Luxembourg discussed information and resources needed.
Link to Creative Cluster Press Book here