‘Like many others, we have followed the election results with great interest, and we trust that together with politics we will take steps towards a stronger knowledge and innovation country,’ said Marcel Levi, chairman of the Knowledge Coalition, the partnership of organizations for entrepreneurs and researchers, in response to the election results.
Future prosperity and economic growth are under pressure. Additionally, societal challenges such as security, (economic) resilience, aging population, and climate are greater than ever. High-quality knowledge, the innovation capacity of Dutch companies, growth of R&D-intensive start-ups and scale-ups, and focus on sufficient talent are therefore crucial.
Currently, the Netherlands still ranks among the global top in innovation capacity; we have the talent, the intellectual power, and the entrepreneurial spirit. To maintain this level, a solid foundation is needed, along with strategic choices in research and innovation policy. Therefore, the next cabinet must fully commit to the goal of spending 3% of GDP on R&D by 2030, a target to which the Netherlands has committed. Achieving this goal requires additional public investments from 2 billion in 2026 to 3.5 billion in 2029. ‘On behalf of organizations for entrepreneurs and researchers in the Netherlands, we hope the new cabinet will take action. Without further efforts, spending on knowledge and innovation will decline further, causing our country to fall behind neighboring countries. Moreover, investments in knowledge and innovation pay off doubly and deliver value for the Netherlands,’ Levi continues.
According to the Knowledge Coalition, the extra public investments should mainly focus on attracting and stimulating private financing. An increase in public R&D investments acts as a flywheel for private investments in research and development, causing private R&D expenditures in the Netherlands to rise substantially and structurally. Additional public investments could be used for:
- A new instrument for strategic innovation programs;
- An instrument for co-financing Dutch participation in strategic EU programs;
- Modernization of scientific infrastructure via OCW and NWO, and experimental and new valorization infrastructure at public knowledge institutions, such as TO2 institutions, universities of applied sciences, MBO institutions, university medical centers, research institutes, and universities;
- Establishment of a national investment institution for further growth of start-ups and scale-ups (e.g., through pension fund involvement);
- Stable funding of scientific, practice-oriented, and applied research.
‘In the run-up to the elections, we heard indications that the importance of knowledge and innovation is recognized. The Knowledge Coalition looks forward to engaging with the new cabinet to work on the strong and stable position of the Netherlands as a knowledge country,’ Levi concludes.
Knowledge Coalition
The Knowledge Coalition is a partnership consisting of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (VH), MBO Council, Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU), KNAW, NWO, ZonMw, VNO-NCW, MKB-Nederland, ROM Nederland, and the institutes for applied research (TO2 federation). The Knowledge Coalition jointly strives for optimal conditions to let research and innovation flourish in the Netherlands and acts as a dialogue partner for the government.
