The big will take place on Thursday 2 December, at 6.30pm, at the Athénée de Luxembourg. 16 nominees are competing in four categories. This event organised by Maison Moderne aims to highlight companies that have shown ingenuity in this period of crisis. The voting jury is comprised of: Barbara Grau, its president, head of research and development and innovation at Luxinnovation; Emmanuel Gay, partner at Resultance; Laurent Lucius, head of the Go Digital project at the House of Entrepreneurship (Chamber of Commerce); and Nobby Brausch, assistant vice president of corporate banking at Spuerkeess. Together they examined the 52 applications received. And they picked their nominees.

In the Solidarity category:

- The Automobile Club Luxembourg (ACL). During the crisis, it provided eight vehicles to the government to facilitate the movement of medical personnel, to whom it offered breakdown services. The association also set up a collection service that made it possible to distribute around 20 computers to disadvantaged students who had distance-learning classes and helped collect spare parts so that the initiators of the 3D Print Let's Fight Corona Luxembourg project could produce their protective visors.

- DuPont de Nemours. The American company, which manufactures Tyvek protective clothing for medical personnel from Contern, donated 57,000 of these garments to national health organisations in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (3,000 to the Ministry of Health). DuPont also supplied 15,000 square metres of Tyvek to the Luxembourg Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action.

- Metaform. The company put an open source model online allowing anyone to produce protective visors against covid-19 using a 3D printer. The architectural firm then proposed to collect them and redistribute them to hospitals and other care institutions in the country. As a result, 2,500 units were created. The cost of the acquisition of materials and personnel amounted to approximately €40,000.

- So Graphiste, a communications company, that launched the participatory writing of a story about a tiny chameleon named Léon on social networks. It illustrated the story and, in the end, even printed it into a children's storybook, sold in bookshops. The €3,078 raised were donated to the Natur&Ëmwelt association in March 2021. So Graphiste has since produced a second volume.

In the Resilience category:

- B2S, which transformed its restaurant La Chapelle, closed during the crisis, into the grocery shop The Shop'elle, a local alternative to the big supermarkets. The aim was also to encourage customers who had come to buy basic necessities to buy their meals in jars to take away at the same time. Today, the restaurant, which has reopened, is counting on the opposite effect: that customers who have come to eat will fall in love with the grocery products that they have tasted at the table. The investment amounted to €50,000, including the redesign of the website to sell its boxes. Luxinnovation contributed €5,000 to the digitalisation part of the project.

- The Ernster bookshop took advantage of the period to improve its website. In addition to relying on local transport companies, it sometimes delivered its customers itself, by bicycle. It also transferred some of its employees from the bookshop to the telephone centre so that they could advise customers from a distance.

- Luxair has implemented a whole “travel safe & clean” concept for its customers, from the complete disinfection of the interior of the plane to the distribution of a sanitary kit to all its passengers. The airline has also adapted its refund or flight modification procedures for customers. It also partnered with artist Sumo to and made available new destinations, such as Belgrade, Oslo, or the German island of Sylt.

- The logistics company Michel Greco had to cope with high demand during the crisis. Instead of delivering to customers in their offices, it had to set up new routes throughout Luxembourg to deliver to customers when they were working from home. It also launched a fresh food delivery service, Fresh, which required the acquisition of a dozen refrigerated lorries and a refrigerated unit for storage. In addition, it carried out all deliveries to Letzshop and deliveries of masks and antigen tests to the Ministry of Health. It was therefore necessary to provide a 24/7 service as the company used to work between 6am and 7pm. It did so by hiring new staff. Finally, in response to customer demand, it set up a tracking tool during the crisis, enabling customers to follow their parcels.

In the Digitalisation category:

- BDO Luxembourg. The accounting and auditing firm, has digitalised a large part of its processes, both internal and external. A new document management solution, document exchange portal, widespread introduction of electronic signature, these projects were already in the pipeline but were largely accelerated by the pandemic.

- Munhowen, a drinks supplier, has also gone online by launching its e-commerce site, drinx.lu. This project too  was accelerated by the crisis. After 18 months of existence, the site already generates the same turnover as an average point of sale and should quickly exceed it according to the company's forecasts. The average online shopping basket, standing at €130, is higher than that of a physical shop.

- Prolingua. In three weeks, the language training company switched all its courses to virtual format. It now offers courses in phygital format to give its clients the choice of taking their lessons from home or at the training centre. This should be the case for 100% of group classes  Supported by the Neistart Lëtzebuerg programme, the language training centre has invested €400,000 to equip 15 classrooms.

- Specialising in transport, Voyages Emile Weber launched its mobile “roadbook”. A digital platform through which its 800 or so drivers have access to maps, instructions and advice. This would save 200,000 sheets of paper per year. The group has also digitised its travel agencies with its TravelCenter, allowing customers to be advised seven days a week by video, livechat, e-mail or telephone.

In the Innovation category:

- Grouplunch, a platform specialising in corporate meal delivery, had to change its tune with the spread of teleworking. It therefore created Foozo, which also targets individuals. The two sites were combined into one, with two tabs, Lunch and Dinner, delivered to the office as well as at home. The investment amounted to €260,000, almost half of which was financed by the StartupVsCovid19 prize. The former Grouplunch has also started to create new brands dedicated to delivery, in collaboration with chefs. Seven have been set up since 2020. Foozo has invested €250,000 in a design laboratory for this activity. Next step: an application, perhaps for 2022.

- Minusines has digitalised its customer service. The electrical equipment company has set up soundproof video call boxes, installed in the store, where customers can go to place their orders and consult with the sales staff via video. This has reduced queues at the checkout and limited direct contact to stop the spread of covid-19. The company is now developing a tool so that customers can do the same, directly from home.

- Polygon. The waste collection company has worked with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (List) to install sensors on waste bins to detect when they need to be emptied, without the customer--craftsman, restaurant owner, local authority or industrialist--having to worry about it.

- Santé Services, a subsidiary of the Robert Schuman Hospitals Foundation, launched its own mask production at the end of August 2020. It has started to produce virucidal masks, in collaboration with Molecular Plasma Group (MPG), which supplies the machines. In total, almost 13 million masks have been produced by the company, which has invested €1,630,000 in this project, 83% of which was covered by state subsidies.

One winning company per category on Thursday

The Solidarity Award will be presented by Resultance, the Resilience Award by the Chamber of Commerce, the Digitalisation Award by Spuerkeess and the Innovation Award by Luxinnovation. The four winning companies will be awarded a symbolic trophy. The ceremony, in person and with a meal, will take place in the presence of economy minister Franz Fayot (LSAP).

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.