The pandemic has challenged companies' innovation and development. But three Luxembourgish businesses in particular have reinvented themselves within the last nine months.
B-Medical Systems, based in Hosingen, developed refrigerators to safely stock and transport the vaccine. Rotarex, out of Lintgen, developed ventilators.
On Wednesday Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot signed a co-financing programme with the company MPG, or Molecular Plasma Group, based in Foetz.
The start up uses plasma technology to process the material with which face masks are produced. More precisely, citric acid with a thickness less than one thousandth of a human hair is applied to the outer layer of the mask. The result is that masks can disinfect themselves.
"Your mask will actually deactivate the virus. Large quantities, in a very short time, 99.9%. It's important that the virus does not pass through the mask and infect you, something more likely when touching the mask with your fingers when putting it on or taking it off. "If you pick up the mask with your finger, for instance, to pull it straight," says Régis Heyberger, Chief Operating Officer at MPG.
Early on in the crisis, MPG officials recognised that the technologies they had developed over the years for sectors such as the automotive, aviation, and everyday fashion sectors could also be used in the fight against Covid-19.
"I talked to my neighbour. She's a nurse at the children's clinic. She was immediately impressed. If you can do it, then that would be great, she said. Then I talked to Paul Wirtgen from the Hôpital du Nord in Ettelbruck. Paul, what do you think? That's a good idea. If it's not too expensive, he said. And then I talked to Michel Schuetz from Schuman Hospitals, who produce masks with health services," said Marc Jacobs, Director General of MPG.
MPG not only develops the technology itself, but also the machines to implement it at production level. Demand is high, requests are already coming in from abroad. "This is the beginning of a long story," says Jacobs. The company is ready to deliver small machines to Belgium and France.
