1 - 2 October 2024, Luxembourg.The second edition of Healthcare Week Luxembourg on 1 and 2 October 2024, organised by the Federation of Luxembourg Hospitals (FHL), in partnership with the agency Quinze Mai (QM), was a resounding success, bringing together 3,000 professionals from the Greater Region’s healthcare sector. The conference was also an opportunity to reward four innovative projects with the HWL Awards 2024. The datesfor the third edition have already been announced for 1 and 2 October 2025.
Healthcare Week Luxembourg waslaunched on Tuesday, 1 Octoberin the presence of Martine Deprez, Minister for Health and Social Security, Maurice Bauer, First Alderman of the City of Luxembourg, and Dr Philippe Turk, President of the FHL. The conference brought together professionals from the fields of health, research and technological innovation, education and the economy, as well as representatives from public, professional and social institutions. The programme consisted of debates, round tables and presentations on subjects as diverse as technological advances, the promotion of targeted and preventive medicine, healthcare in- and outside of clinics, and the role of the patient at the heart of the system.
The Minister of the Economy, Lex Delles, and the Minister for Research and Higher Education, Stéphanie Obertin, honoured the Healthcare Week Luxembourg with their presence and emphasised the importance of the collective development of the health sector across the Greater Region.
Bogi Eliasen, Director of Health at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, opened the conference with a thought-provoking keynote: "What do we want: the best health system or the healthiest population? We need to make a fundamental shift from caring for the sick to preventive health, focusing on early detection of disease and concentrating on secondary prevention." On the second day of the conference, Dr Manfred Zahorka, Senior Manager Integrated Care in Freiburg/Breisgau, stressed the importance of analysing local contexts as the best basis for developing a local integrated care concept.
The HWL also hosted the HWL Awards 2024. These awards are supported by a number of partners, including the Société des sciences médicales, the Luxembourg Institute of Health, Luxinnovation and the Ministry of the Economy. They aim to showcase innovative projects in the Greater Region in three categories:start-ups, medical research and managerial innovation. The finalists were selected this year from over 20 applications.
The winners are:
- Medical Research: Centre François Baclesse for "Aprilux"
- Innovation in Hospital Management: Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg for "Escape Game"
- Start-up Greater Region: Prostperia for "PROSTia"
- Start-up Luxembourg: MDSim for "SPINEsim"
"The second HWL proved to be an excellent international platform for discussing the future of healthcare systems," said Dr Philippe Turk. "The conference highlighted the pivotal role of digital technologies in transforming healthcare, but also the crucial impact of interprofessional collaboration. Indeed, it is through dialogue that we will be able to exploit the innovations to the full, with the common aim of placing the patient, his or her care pathway and above all prevention at the heart of our vision for the future."
Building on the success of this year's event, the Luxembourg Hospital Federation FHL and Quinze Mai announced that the third edition of Healthcare Week Luxembourg will take place on 1 and 2 October 2025.
About Healthcare Luxembourg Week (HWL)
In addition to its central location at the heart of Europe and the Greater Region, with a population of over 11.7 million, Luxembourg has a very specific healthcare sector, with a large number of cross-border commuters and expatriates among its patients and staff, and a constant mix of nationalities. This situation presents the sector with cultural, social, economic, and political challenges, both nationally and across borders. Keen to constantly improve and seek new opportunitiesto best meet the needs of its patients, the FHL hasset up a platform for exchange and debate for allstakeholders in the healthcare system of the country, the Greater Region and Europe and created Healthcare Week, an event held for the first time in September 2023, following in the footsteps of trade fairs such as SantExpo in France and MEDICA in Germany. Healthcare Week is aimed at professionalsin the fields of healthcare, research and technological innovation, education and the economy, as well asfor representatives ofstate, professional and social institutions.
About the Fédération des hôpitaux luxembourgeois (FHL)
Founded in 1948 and formalized as an association in 1965, the Fédération des hôpitaux luxembourgeois (FHL) gathers all hospitalsin Luxembourg, with a total of 9,000 employees and more than 1,500 specialist doctors. The FHL contributes to the continuous improvement of the national health system in the interests of patients. It facilitates collaboration and complementarity between hospitals and other players in the sector to offer patients the most appropriate care. As an umbrella organization, the FHL defends the interests of its members and healthcare professionals in general and promotes all kind of innovation and progressin hospitals. Its mission is also to inform and guide political decision-makers regarding the vision and strategic developments of the Luxembourg hospital sector and the health sector as such. As an ASBL, the FHL acts in complete independence.<7i>
About Quinze Mai (QM)
Quinze Mai is a merger of two event agencies: PG Organisation, which has been designing trade and consumer shows for over 40 years, and Eventime, the leading PCO for the organization of conferences and seminars. It isthe combination of these two centers of expertise that enables us to offer tailor-made events. As a partner of numerous skilled societies, associations, and federations, Quinze Mai has organized over 300 conferences, trade fairs and symposia covering more than thirty specializations. Aware of the economic stakes and regulatory constraints of these events, its teams cover the specific sector know-how, from fundraising to digital platforms for abstract submissions, from content to participant management. Quinze Mai strives to innovate and quickly respond to its partners' daily challenges.