The Luxembourg Head of Government visited a number of projects in the field of the media and the creative economy in the German capital. The visits by Xavier Bettel and his delegation included the newsroom at Die Welt and the Axel Springer SE Plug & Play Accelerator, an intensive three-month coaching programme for start-ups. During these visits, the Minister was able to gain an impression of how one of Europe’s largest publishing houses goes about pooling activities in the field of the media, communication and creativity and offering new businesses support for their own development. “Businesses that are still at the stage of starting out on their economic development are flexible and adaptable, but they often lack the right conditions. They lack simple things, like premises, or one-off expertise consultancy. That is what is on offer here, and that is precisely what we want to offer in the Grand Duchy too – and we will be doing so”, said Xavier Bettel during his visit in Berlin.

Over lunch, the Luxembourg Head of Government had a very stimulating conversation with representatives of Berlin’s creative economy. He was able to gain an idea of the efforts of the creative scene and of the city of Berlin with regard to the establishment and expansion of this sector of the economy. Xavier Bettel said he was convinced that Luxembourg could learn a lot from Germany: “Berlin is a hub of creativity, and the discussion with a number of the sector’s representatives was very worthwhile. We heard about not only the positive aspects, but also the mistakes that need to be avoided.”

In the evening, Xavier Bettel opened the Artmix 9 exhibition at the Saarländische Galerie, in the presence of Saarland’s Secretary of State Jürgen Lennartz. The exhibition is the result of the ninth edition of an artists’ residency. On each occasion, several artists – two from the Grand Duchy and two from Saarbrücken – have worked together in either Bourglinster or Saarbrücken for six weeks and shared their experience. For this ninth edition, Anina Rubin, Elena Bienfait, Daniel Henrich and Véronique Verdet worked together on a joint exhibition, which will be open until 1 October 2016 (Saarländische Galerie, Charlottenstraße 3, Berlin).

On 31 August 2016 Xavier Bettel visited three more projects in the field of the creative industry – the Aufbau Haus Moritzplatz centre, the Prinzessinnengarten urban garden, and the Betahaus co-working centre. Xavier Bettel ended his trip to Berlin with a visit to the Boros Collection, which is housed in a former bunker, and the current exhibition of Luxembourg artist Anne Michaux at the VDI Technology Centre in Berlin.