The Dutch Digitalization Strategy (NDS) is a joint strategy of municipalities, provinces, water boards, public service providers, and the national government to strengthen the digital infrastructure of the Netherlands and address societal challenges more effectively. It has been agreed to accelerate together on six interrelated priorities: joint cloud technology, responsibly sharing and utilizing data across government layers, responsibly leveraging AI opportunities, putting citizens and entrepreneurs at the center, enhancing digital resilience and autonomy of the government, and strengthening the digital skills of civil servants.
The NDS Council provides solicited and unsolicited advice and feedback on the progress and implementation of the NDS. The advisory council consists of members from within the government and external members from academia, knowledge institutions, and the business community. The external experts have expertise and authority on topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, data exchange, cloud technology, and improving digital government services to citizens and businesses. The members from within the government participate as chairpersons of an NDS action team for each priority.
State Secretary of the Interior Eddie van Marum emphasizes the importance of this collaboration: “The NDS is a crucial step towards a future-proof digital government. The NDS Council, with its broad knowledge and experience, is an important driver to accelerate our goals in the field of digitalization. Together, we must now come to a concrete action plan. What do we tackle first and how do we finance it? If the next cabinet truly wants to make progress on these issues, a substantial contribution is needed for digitalization. This requires a joint investment, both public and private.”
Nathan Ducastel, chair of the NDS Council and director of VNG Realisatie, adds: “Collaboration between all parties involved is essential. Only by joining forces can we successfully shape the digital transformation and ensure that no one is left behind.”
The members of the NDS Council are:
- Dr. A. (Arre) Zuurmond (Former Government Commissioner for Information Management)
- B. (Bas) Dunnebier (Chief Science and Technology Officer AIVD)
- E. (Emily) Glastra (Chair of the industry association NLdigital)
- I. (Inge) Bryan (Chair of the Board of the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD))
- Prof. Dr. Ir. N. (Nitesh) Bharosa (Professor of GovTech and Innovation at TU Delft)
- Prof. Dr. P. (Paul) Timmers (Professor at KU Leuven, University of Rijeka, and European University Cyprus)
- Dr. T.B.P.M. (Tjark) Tjin-A-Tsoi (CEO and Chair of the Board of TNO)
- Drs. E.L. (Emine) Özyenici MCM (Deputy Secretary General JenV)
- J.H. (Hans) Ouwehand* (Chair of the Board of the CAK, priority Citizen and Entrepreneur at the center)
- Drs. J.J.C.M. (Jan) Gudde* (Acting Director of Operations JenV, priority Digital Resilience and Autonomy)
- R. (Ron) Kolkman* (Chief Engineer-Director – CIO at Rijkswaterstaat, priority Cloud)
- T. (Tanja) van Burgel* (CIO Ministry of Finance, priority Digital Skills)
- L.M. (Larissa) Zegveld* (General Director of Kennisnet Foundation, priority Artificial Intelligence)
- Chair of Intergovernmental Data Consultation*, (to be announced, priority Data)
* Member of the NDS Council from the government and chair of the action team for one of the six priorities within the NDS.
For more information: Marcus Polman, spokesperson for Digitalization, State Secretary Eddie van Marum.