Luxembourg needs to develop a brand identity in FinTech

Diego De Biasio CEO at Technoport SA
 
 
What is Technoport?
 
Technoport is a technology-oriented business incubator that supports small teams and individuals in the validation, implementation and development of their ideas. We currently host 30 startups. Since 2012, we are able to host companies establishing research and development activities in Luxembourg with the explicit goal to support the economic diversification. This year, we have reached the 5th position of the European top10 University Associated Business Incubators Ranking of the UBI Index.
 
 
How many start-ups do you have in FinTech and what do they do?
 
It all depends on how you define fintech of course. But I would say that as of today we do not have many fintech startups yet. We hosted PayCash (a mobile payment solution) until the middle of the year when they left the incubator successfully. We now host Coinplus, a bitcoin startup that will go live as soon as they obtain their license from the national regulator. We also have several projects in the pipeline from Latvia, Japan, and Germany etc.
 
 
What are the biggest selling points for FinTech start-ups setting up shop in Luxembourg?
 
The main selling point is definitively the agility of the regulator. I have never done business with this organisation but the entrepreneurs we have met and who have interacted with it only gave good feedback: competent, quick and open to discuss innovations. These are strengths that don’t seem so obvious in other countries. The multicultural workforce makes it easy to find people able to work in different languages and many of them also have a strong experience in the financial sector.
 
 
What is lacking today in Luxembourg and should be developed?
 
It is difficult to say – I guess the ingredients are all there to establish the right ecosystem. We should definitively develop a fintech specialization based on the competencies we already have within the country. This would allow a strong and fact-based storytelling around the fintech brand of Luxembourg and firmly put us on the fintech map within those specialized areas. All this needs to happen sooner rather than later if we want position ourselves as a global fintech hub before it is too late.
 
www.technoport.lu
www.luxfuturelab.lu
 
FinTech Gazette / January 2016