The upcoming cabinet will need to invest an additional 165 million euros per year in digital infrastructure for research, or the Netherlands will lose its scientific position in the short term. This is evident from a large inventory conducted by NWO and SURF. Due to lack of investments in digital infrastructure, the Netherlands is rapidly losing ground. Meanwhile, the demand for supercomputers, data, AI, and network connectivity for research is growing increasingly fast.

165 million per year needed to keep science here

The current digital infrastructure – from supercomputers to research networks and data facilities – can no longer meet the growing demand in the short term. If investments are not made, supercomputers, network hubs, and data facilities may disappear from the Netherlands, with all consequences for the Dutch (scientific) business climate.

Todays research forms the basis for our earning capacity of tomorrow and provides answers to societal issues. Digital infrastructure is an indispensable link in modern research. While other countries invest heavily, the Netherlands has fallen further behind. Since 2019, no inflation correction has been applied and budgets have not been indexed. As a result, the Netherlands has dropped from 7th to 20th place in Europe, measured by the size of national computing facilities relative to gross national product.

165 million extra investment 

The report looks at criteria and (previous) inventories regarding the needs of institutions, researchers, and others. It has advised to structurally invest an additional 165 million euros annually in digital infrastructures for research. The amount is divided into investments in national and local computing facilities, data storage and network infrastructure, Authentication and Authorization Infrastructures (AAI), and security. It also concerns connecting Dutch infrastructures to international collaborations such as supercomputers or AI factories.