2nd Sustainable Finance Forum
2019-06-26 08:30 - 11:30 UTC
Description
On the 26 June 2019, the second edition of the Sustainable Finance Forum will be held in presence of HE Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance.
For more details about the agenda and the full list of speakers, please see here.
Because of limited seat capacity, online registration for this event is now closed.
Check out the FULL PROGRAM here
Contact persons: Aurélie Zambeaux and Tatjana Schaeffer

Blockchain, a simple chain of blocks?
2019-06-26 12:00 - 14:00
Description
Lunch & Learn #2 – “Blockchain, a simple chain of blocks?” (English)
Speaker: Emilie Allaert, Head of Operations and Projects at The LHoFT.
Description: Do you really know about blockchain? Are you willing to understand how it can impact our lives and what it has to offer? Blockchain is more than bitcoin and hype. The possibilities are endless. Let’s discover them!
Agenda:

11h45 – Registration
12h00 – Conference / Workshop (30-60 minutes)
13h00 – Lunch (food & drinks provided by House of Startups)
13h30 – End

Why:
The Lunch & Learn sessions provide you with an opportunity to exchange with experts and network with the Luxembourg startup ecosystem.

ZKLux#1 - Luxembourg's First Zero Knowledge Days
2019-06-26 14:00 - 17:00
Description
ZKLux#1: Luxembourg’s First Zero Knowledge Days by Sikoba Research
ZKP (zero-knowledge proofs) is a method to prove the knowledge of some fact, without revealing that fact. It is already used in several blockchains and is expected to have a major impact on applications that involve transactions, identity systems, and proprietary information in general.
ZKLux#1 is the perfect occasion to find out about this exciting and important new technology!
Wednesday 26th June, 14:00-18:00
Technical Sessions & Hands-on Workshop

Targeted audience: students, researchers and IT developers. Some mathematical background required.
Location: LHoFT, “Bajcsy” meeting room on the 3rd floor
Attendance limit: 20

Thursday 27th June, 10:00-17:30
ZKLux#1 Conference

Target audience: C-level executives wishing to learn about the impact of Zero Knowledge proofs, managers in charge of technology and innovation, blockchain practitioners, professionals interested in data privacy.
Conference program: The goal of the conference is to provide a wide-ranging overview of Zero Knowledge Proofs without requiring any prior technical knowledge.
Location: House of Startups, “Big Bang” room (level -1)

Have we lost Belgium? The story of our missing forests and what we can do... by Investing for Development
2019-06-27 17:30 - 18:30
Description
In the development world, we often talk of the missing… the missing middle, the missing piece of the puzzle, the missing link. The area of our missing forests is also increasingly coming to the fore.
Each year, an area of forest the size of Belgium is lost from our planet. This comes with devastating consequences as forests are integral to the well-being of our planet. Forests regulate ecosystems, protect biodiversity, play an integral part in the carbon cycle, support livelihoods, and can help drive sustainable growth. When forests are lost and degraded, we see very different effects: greenhouse gas emissions, less chances to sequester carbon, development challenges, dif culty conserving ecosystems and perhaps most notably climate change. These effects are by no means isolated; here in Luxembourg, the young recently took to the streets, aware of how climate change is likely to affect their future.
The severity of these issues mean that a united effort is needed to stem the problem. It is not possible to combat deforestation through public initiatives alone, we all need to commit to change the current situation. As the WWF reported, it is through functioning forests that we have the best chance of withstanding climate change.
This conference explores the impact of “the Missing Belgium” and looks at projects which are helping to restore forests in Central America.
Agenda

17h30: Ordinary General Meeting
18h30: Welcome – Mr. Rudi Belli, Senior Vice President, Secretary General, Spuerkeess
18h40: Keynote (problems) – Professor Dr. Ravi Fernando, Global Strategic Corporate Sustainability (Pvt) Ltd
19h20: Keynote (solutions) – Mr. Kaspar Wansleben, Investing for Development SICAV
19h40: Questions & Answers with the audience
19h50: Networking cocktail

Special invitee: Mr. Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance
Moderation by Ms. Apricot Wilson, Investing for Development SICAV

Investing for Development SICAV is an umbrella fund as such operates separate Sub-Funds:
– Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund
– Forestry and Climate Change Fund

Lighthouse talk with Prof. Ted Zoller - Event by Uni.lu Incubator
2019-06-28 15:00 - 17:00
Description
Lighthouse talk: June 28th – Room Loic – Floor M
Time 3 pm – 5 pm
Event by Uni.lu Incubator
Dealmakers: The drivers of entrepreneurial ecosystems
From years of shaping and tracking entrepreneurial ecosystems around the globe from their inception, Prof. Ted Zoller has devised a unique algorithm to identify most important actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems. Accounting for the role and structure of the entrepreneurial networks and interrelationships of investor syndicates, the algorithm offers advise on how best to leverage these dealmakers and empower them to accelerate the maturity of startup ecosystems.
About Ted:
Ted serves as an Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Ted also serves as Director at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, founder CommonWeal Ventures, is a Member of Boards at the New Markets Venture Partners, Southeast Techinventures, Rex Strategic Innovagions, Rex Health Ventures, Iddea Fund Partners and CollectiveIQ Private Equity. He is Former VP at Kauffman Foundation and founded the US Small and Medium Business Association, among other positions he still continues drive on daily basis.

A Guide Through the Common Features of Digital Asset Generating Events.
2019-07-11 17:00 - 19:00
Description
The LHoFT Foundation, Allen & Overy, Elvinger Hoss Prussen, Fieldfisher, Clifford Chance, Loyens & Loeff, Lëtzblock and Melvin Tjon Akon are pleased to invite you to a conference presenting their new joined White Paper going through the common features of Digital Assets Generating Events (DAGEs).
After a first White Paper, produced by the LHoFT in collaboration with Stellar in September 2017, aiming to explain the functioning of DAGEs, this new working paper aims at providing an analysis of the existing regulatory and legal framework and its application to the fundraising mechanism called Digital Assets Offering or Digital Asset Generating Events (“DAGE”), as well as discussing certain options to address these offerings within the Luxembourg regulatory framework in the future.
Please find here below the agenda of the event:
17.00 > 17.30: Registration
17.30 > 17.45: Welcome note – Why Luxembourg should look into DAGEs: benefits & economic impact

Patrick Mischo, Senior Partner, Allen & Overy Luxembourg
Paul Péporté, Partner, Allen & Overy Luxembourg
Emilie Allaert, Head of Operations & Projects, LHoFT Foundation

17.45 > 18.30: Ask the experts – White Paper presentation: A Guide Through the Common Features of Digital Asset Generating Events. The after-dark: how current regulations apply, and how to characterize digital assets.

Paul Péporté, Partner & Philippe Noeltner, Associate, Allen & Overy Luxembourg
Steve Jacoby, Managing Partner, Clifford Chance Luxembourg
Ingrid Duboudieu, Asset Management, Finance, Funds and Regulatory, Country Managing, Fieldfisher
Gary Cywie, Partner, Elvinger Hoss Prussen
Monique Bachner, Attorney at Law, Director LëtzBlock
Alvaro Garrido Mesa, Senior Associate, Loyens & Loeff
Melvin Tjon Akon, Attorney at Law, Independant Contributor
Moderator: Emilie Allaert, Head of Operations & Projects, LHoFT Foundation

18.30 > 19.00: Ask the Doers – Roundtable: How do you manage to navigate the current framework?

Christian Dohmen, Luxembourg Stock Exchange Luxembourg
Philippe Van Hecke, COO, Tokeny
Alexander Tkachenko, CEO, VNX Exchange
Moderator: Emilie Allaert, Head of Operations & Projects, LHoFT Foundation

19.00 > 21.00: Cocktail
This is a private event and we have a limited capacity. For any queries, please send an email to marketing@lhoft.lu

4th Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
2019-07-12 - 2019-07-13
Description
Luxembourg will be hosting the 4th Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 12th & 13th July 2019.
It will be the first Annual Meeting to take place outside of Asia. At the Annual Meeting, the Asian Infrastructure Forum is the business-dedicated part focused on creating connections and business development opportunities for participants.
At the 2019 Annual Meeting, private sector businesses, including start-ups, will have the unique opportunity to meet counterparts from Asia and beyond, to develop business partnerships and to showcase their products and services at the Exhibition.
Industries and focus areas

Digital Infrastructure and Connectivity
Urban Development and Mobility
Clean and Renewable Energy
Sustainable Finance and Development
IT and Fintech
PPP and Resource Mobilization
Railways, Airports, Roads and Highways
Water and Sanitation
Logistics and Multimodal Transport
Satellite and Space Resources

Why exhibit ?
During the Annual Meeting, a Host Country Exhibition will be organized to offer Luxembourg’s private sector an opportunity to actively take part in the Annual Meeting and to showcase their innovative services and business solutions. The Exhibition will take place in the Foyer of the European Convention Center Luxembourg on 12th and 13th July 2019.
The objective of the exhibition is to promote the economic and financial sector and offer companies operating in Luxembourg the opportunity to share their know-how in the field of consulting, infrastructure, project development, logistics, financing and delivery.
How to exhibit ?
Businesses operating in Luxembourg have the possibility to reserve an exhibition stand at the AIIB Annual Meeting.
Exhibitors can request a personalized stand for a preferential package rate of EUR 1500.
The stand package comprises a 3m x 2m x 2.5m booth, personalized print for the booth walls, 40” LCD screen, high table, two bar stools, document holder, carpet, light, electric socket and WIFI.
Exhibition space is limited and stands are allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Companies interested in taking part in the Exhibition can express their interest by contacting the Chamber of Commerce
>> Contact persons: Violaine Mathurin, Kinkai XU – E-mail: china(at)cc.lu
For more information, check hereafter

Many companies start up, but too few scale up!
2019-07-12 16:00 - 17:00
Description
Many companies start up, but too few scale up!
How to scale up your company and take it to the next level

Introduction/takeaways:
Start up, then scale up or stall out (fail to scale)!
This sequence describes the life cycle of most businesses.
Your takeaways from this conference:

Identify the key challenges of the growth journey
Learn about a structured way to systemize your scaling efforts
Get an insight into the tools to master the journey – without drama

Presenter:
Dr. Jean-Marc Fandel is an experienced operational manager, trainer and performance coach. JM runs his own training and advisory firm in partnership with “ScaleUp.team” a European-wide consulting consortium, leveraging over 20 years of experience in various growth industries advising clients on business issues and opportunities associated with growth. In the recent past, JM has contributed to scaling up MASH, a fast growing Fintech50 company, and has developed CETREL and SIX Payment Services, as CEO and Managing Director by growing the business exponentially. JM is also a board member in various companies and a mentor to entrepreneurs. He holds a PhD and MSc from the Ecole des HEC, University of Lausanne and is an AMP alumni of the Harvard Business School. jmf@scaleup.de

Fintech Friday – Accelerate Your Summer sponsored by NadiFin Program
2019-07-12 17:30 - 23:30
Description
Our next, and last Fintech Friday of the season before the summer break, is just around the corner.
We are looking forward to gather the Fintech Community and celebrate the winning Fintech of the NadiFin Acceleration program.
The NadiFin Acceleration program powered by MiddleGame Ventures and Farvest in partnership with the LHoFT brought together 10 Fintech startups from around the globe over two in person sessions in Dublin and Luxembourg, competing in a trademarked peer-voting startup accelerator curriculum (powered by Village Capital) leading to a €100,000 investment from MiddleGame Ventures.
As special guest, we welcome Mr. Paul CHAN, Hong Kong Financial Secretary (Minister of Finance).
Agenda:

5.30pm – Open door
6.00 pm – Introduction of Mr. Paul CHAN, Hong Kong Financial Secretary (Minister of Finance)
6.30pm – Welcome Note by Nasir Zubairi and Presentation of the NadiFin Program
6.45pm – Announcement of the winning Fintech of the NadiFin program and the grant of €100,000 investment from MiddleGame Ventures
7.00pm – 9.00pm – Networking (as usual drinks and food will be served)

​ If you want to know more about The NadiFin Acceleration program, check out the website: https://www.nadifin.com
We would like to thank the partners of the 2019 NadiFin Fintech accelerator programme including Pictet, Fuchs, Telindus, Arendt, Enterprise Ireland, the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland, Grant Thornton, WeWork Labs, Amazon Web Services and Stripe.
Fintech Friday is Luxembourg’s fastest growing (and coolest) Fintech networking event, bringing together Fintech entrepreneurs, executives, VCs, Fintech enthusiasts, and business angels.
This is a private event, for registration please contact us at info@lhoft.lu

FinTech Hackathon - Bucharest
2019-07-27 - 2019-07-28
Description
This FinTech Hackathon brings together FinTech developers and designers to develop financial products and discover new technologies. Example applications include innovations in risk management, trading, investing, personal finance, big data, retail banking, regulatory compliance, mobile payments and enterprise social.
Attendees will spend 24 hours coding, validating their ideas, networking and then demoing their hacks to a panel of VCs, executives and entrepreneurs. This hackathon is highly focused on the engineering component of your solution. Your ability to architect, design, and build your technology stack has significantly more weight than your ability to create a powerpoint pitch!
Join the competition NOW and check out the prizes
Discover the mentors
Agenda
Day 1 (Saturday 27th of July)

08:30 – 09:30 Coffee + Breakfast + Registration
09:30 – 10:15 FinTech Hackathon “1st Edition” Introduction
10:15 – 10:45 Mentors and Jury Introduction
10:45 – 11:15 Coffee Break
11.15 – 12:00 Presenting the Contest “Challenges”
12:00 – 14:00 Mandatory strategy meetings in the “war rooms”
14:00 – START HACKING!
14:00 – 15:00 Lunch
14:30 – 20:00 Continue Hacking!
20:00 – 21:00 Dinner & Networking
21:00 – 8:00 Hacking all night!

Day 2 (Sunday 28th of July )

08:30 – 09:30 Coffee & Breakfast
09:00 – 09:30 Progress Review Sessions
09:30 – 14:00 Continue Hacking!
14:00 – STOP HACKING!
14:00 – 14:45 Lunch
14:45 – 15:15 Preparation for the presentations
15:15 – 17:30 Team Pitches
17:30 – 18:30 Jury huddle to pick the top winners
18:30 – 19:00 Awards Ceremony + “Public Vote Winner” and “Golden Buzzer Winner”
19:00 – Closing Presentation + Networking + Dinner

2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference
2019-08-29 - 2019-08-31
Description
The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) is a world-influential AI event co-sponsored by the State Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Network Information Office, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.
The Deepblue Cup A.I. competition will be part of the 2019 WAIC and will collect + screen over 1,000 AI companies from 16 countries and regions, where selected companies will be invited to the Shanghai roadshow where the main conference is hosted.
​DeepBlue Cup A.I. Competition aims to build a broader business application acceleration platform for start-ups in the field of AI. Through this competition, high-quality projects with commercial application potential in various sub-industries can be excavated worldwide, providing business landing fields and capital matching platform for AI projects at domestic and abroad.

European AI for Finance
2019-09-03 14:00 - 23:30
Description
WHAT’S EUROPEAN AI FOR finance?
Startup Inside is creating the most exclusive Artificial InteIligence initiative focused on the financial industry in Europe.
A unique opportunity to gather the European AI ecosystem with the European Financial ecosystem: hundreds of corporates, startups, Fintechs, research labs and communities.
With this B2B edition Startup Inside aims to spotlight the Top 100 use cases of Artificial Intelligence in the financial industry.

Discover the Full AGENDA
Meet the speakers of the European AI For Finance
Join us on the LHoFT Stand and get the chance to meet some of our Fintech

The FinTech Abu Dhabi Tour in Luxembourg
2019-09-12 17:00 - 23:30
Description
The FinTech Abu Dhabi Tour — Connecting Global FinTech Hubs
About the Tour
The FinTech Abu Dhabi Tour connects global finance hubs around the world to bring together emerging and scaling FinTech businesses and connect them to FinTech Abu Dhabi.
Pitching events, meetups, exclusive dinners and workshops will connect emerging FinTech businesses and talent from around the world with the chance to get involved in FinTech Abu Dhabi, through the Innovation Challenge, the FinTech Abu Dhabi Awards and the FinTech 50.
What We’re Looking For

Emerging and Scaling FinTech Businesses looking to scale internationally, with a focus on the Middle East & North Africa.
Businesses developing revolutionary products and services working to address the challenges areas identified by Abu Dhabi Global Market:

RegTech & SupTech
Financial Inclusion
Digital Marketplaces
Blockchain & Crypto
Security & Trust

Why Attend
Apply to Pitch to take part in one of several Pitch Sessions

The winning pitch will attend FinTech Abu Dhabi for free
Receive a stipend towards travel and accommodation.

Hear from Abu Dhabi Global Market and Unbound about FinTech Abu Dhabi.
Connect with regional ecosystem partners and learn how to scale your business internationally.
Find out how you can get involved with the FinTech Abu Dhabi:

Innovation Challenge
FinTech Abu Dhabi Awards
FinTech 50.

APPLY TO PITCH
Agenda

17:30 – 18:00 – Registration
18:00 – 18:15 – Welcome note from LHoFT and kick off
18:15 – 18:45 – Panel discussion: How to scale tech startups in new and emerging markets
18:45 – 19:20 – Pitching session (3min pitch + 2min Q&A)
19:20 – 19:30 – Jury deliberation & Winner announcement
19:30 – 21:00 – Closing remarks and networking

Open Banking Hackathon
2019-09-14 - 2019-09-15
Description
September 14th 2019 is an historic day for the Open Banking trend in Europe.
To celebrate the beginning of Open Banking in Europe and the PSD2 directive operational start-date (14 September 2019), Finqware will host the first Open Banking dedicated Hackathon in CEE, using financial multibanking data access in sandbox mode.
The participating hackathon teams will have access to Finqware’s single API solution to connect to banking sandboxes for access to account information, payment initiation and financial product distribution.
The challenge will engage teams to ideate and implement products, use cases and applications on top of financial data availability
THE TEAMS

7 to 10 teams of 4 people (on average) to take up the challenge are expected.
The teams can be either ad-hoc teams for the event, early stage startups or teams representing IT Dev companies.
The objective is to maximise the success of the teams in picturing innovative applications and use-cases for Open Banking.

Registration deadline is 1st of September (end of day) >> REGISTER your TEAM
THE CHALLENGE
The teams will be challenges to use the multi banking API testing environment made available by FINQware and partners ( where applicable ) to think of real use-cases implementations in 3 main fields with some proposed but not exclusive subcategories of solutions:
1/ Open Banking for Individuals

Personal finance management applications
Robo-Advisory for increasing financial health
Increase financial inclusiveness
Next level payment solutions

2/ Open Banking for Businesses

Optimising Treasury Management for Corporates
Smart Financial management for SMEs
Cross border FX Hedging for corporates

3/ Open Banking for IoT

Using Wearables to manage financial life
The car and its applications

THE AWARDS
1st place team:

2000 EUR in cash
5000 EUR Google Cloud credit offered by Techcelerator
Shortcut to Techcelerator next batch admission

2nd place team

5000 EUR in Google Cloud credits offered by Techcelerator
Shortcut to Techcelerator next batch admission

3rd place team

5000 EUR in Google Cloud credits offered by Techcelerator
Shortcut to Techcelerator next batch admission

Global INSEAD Day - The Human Side of Digitalization
2019-09-17 18:00 - 23:30
Description
Why do most digital transformation initiatives fail – and how can you make yours succeed?
The INSEAD Alumni association surveyed business leaders currently managing digitization programs and one common theme emerged: digital transformation is not about the technology.
Join us for an interactive discussion and networking evening with experts and business leaders who will share insights on the unspoken part of the journey: taking hard strategic decisions, preparing the workforce for a new way of working, establishing new internal and external processes, and creating an organization that is ready for the future.
Speakers include:

Dr. Theos Evgeniou, Professor of Decision Sciences and Technology Management, INSEAD
Mrs Françoise Thoma, Chief Executive Officer of BCEE
Mr Marc Hansen, Luxembourg Minister for Digitisation
Mrs Gwendoline Michaelis, Executive Director at Prisma Media

About INSEAD and Global INSEAD Day
INSEAD is a leading graduate business school with a mission to develop responsible leaders who transform business and society. Every year, the INSEAD Alumni Association in Luxembourg brings together business leaders, government representatives, and academics to share their views, experiences, and strategies on how business can prosper and produce positive societal outcomes.
