After five years in various functions at the Treuhandanstalt, Berlin, Dr. Lüken moved to the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg in 1998, where he was responsible for policy and strategy.
In 2000, Dr. Lüken set up the new Brussels office of the European shipbuilding association CESA. Six months later, he was appointed Secretary General there. As a joint association of the European shipyards and supply industry, SEA Europe was founded under Dr. Lüken’s leadership in 2012. In the same year, he followed the call of the German industry and took over the management of VSM in Hamburg.
However, he remained closely connected to the European work thereafter, among other things by taking over the chairmanship of the Market and Trade Committee at SEA Europe in 2015.
In 2016, Dr. Lüken was elected CESA President and took on the role of First Chairman when the German Maritime Center was founded in 2017.