Ministers Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate Policy) and Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) recently sent the Lower House the Innovation and Valorisation Action Plan. In this letter (in Dutch), the ministers discuss the contents of the action plan. They dive into the topic of innovation and valorisation and how (scientific) research can be used to tackle challenges in society.
Research and innovation are crucial to the great issues of our time and to our future prosperity in a broad sense. Without innovation, for example, a competitive, carbon-neutral and circular economy is unthinkable. From fundamental to more applied, we desperately need research to prepare us for the societal challenges of today and in the future.
We owe our prosperity to past investments. Even now, with targeted investments in research and innovation by business and government, we must build the society of the future.
Ministers Micky Adriaansens and Robbert Dijkgraaf, both responsible for research and innovation policy, write in this letter (in Dutch) about innovation and their vision on valorisation and societal impact.
The letter consists of two parts and an appendix (in Dutch):
I. Innovation as the basis for a sustainable and prosperous the Netherlands.
II. Vision Education, Culture and Science & Economic Affairs and Climate Policy on valorisation and societal impact: from knowledge to impact
APPENDIX: Action plan for innovation and impact (in Dutch)
Part I: Innovation
Innovation is important for our prosperity. The Netherlands is a strong player internationally, but we will not remain so automatically. We must step up a gear if we want to respond to urgent societal issues and geopolitical developments. We must fully utilise the power of public-private cooperation, as we know it in the Netherlands. The government has an important role in this as a driver of innovation. This government is committed to this with three spearheads: creating the right preconditions for R&D and innovation, strategic choices in the deployment of resources and efficient and accessible instruments. Part I of this letter describes the government's efforts to strengthen innovation policy on these three points.
Part II: Vision valorisation and societal impact
A spearhead of this administration is to increase the impact of knowledge. There are plenty of opportunities to make better use of the Netherlands' excellent position in scientific, applied and practice-oriented research. In Part II of this letter we therefore present our joint vision for increasing the impact of knowledge. With this vision, we lay the foundation to work even better together in the coming years on the basis of a shared ambition to create a thriving research and innovation system. This is how we increase the impact of knowledge. We do not do this alone. In numerous policy areas, we are working with relevant ministries and public and private partners to increase the impact of research, for example in the fields of defense, healthcare and agriculture.
Innovation and impact action plan
The attached Action Plan elaborates on the concrete steps the Cabinet is taking to realize the ambitions set forth in Parts I and II of the Letter.
Read the Letter on Innovation and the Vision of Valorisation and Societal Impact (in Dutch) or take a look at the Annex/ Decision Note (in Dutch)