The Task Force was set up by the government to prioritise the future prosperity of the Netherlands. The Task Force focuses on four areas that are crucial to the future economy: digitalisation and AI, security and resilience, energy and climate technology, and life sciences and biotechnology. Within these areas, the Task Force is working on six markets in which the Netherlands has a strong starting position.
Three instruments, one chain
The crux of the letter is the interconnection between three funding initiatives. The National Agency for Disruptive Innovation (NADI) funds breakthroughs, the National Growth Fund (NGF) strengthens the ecosystem in which innovation can flourish, and the National Investment Institution (NII) funds upscaling. Together, they must tackle four bottlenecks in the Dutch innovation landscape: a shortage of R&D investment, a lack of disruptive innovation, waning ecosystem support, and insufficient funding for scale-ups seeking to raise more than €50 million.
National Growth Fund opens new helpdesk for industrial policy
For the NGF, there is a new call for proposals totalling €375 million, focused on strategic industrial policy. The funds originate from projects for which previously earmarked money has been released. The call for proposals focuses on six programmes within the four domains: innovative chemistry, biotechnology, mechanical engineering, semiconductors, digital services and defence-related applications. Consortia comprising companies and research institutions can apply for between €30 million and €100 million per project. Interested parties will be able to submit their concept proposals to RVO as early as this autumn.
NADI: first programmes on biotechnology and safety
Most of the news concerns NADI, which operates according to the US DARPA model: temporary, problem-driven programmes in which several teams work in parallel and in competition with one another under the leadership of a programme manager. The government is allocating €500 million for this purpose. NADI is due to be fully operational by the first half of 2028 at the latest, but due to the urgency of the matter, a pilot programme will be launched in the near future in collaboration with a sister organisation abroad.
The choice of legal form is striking: NADI will be a subsidiary rather than an independent administrative body, which should offer greater autonomy and speed. Tech entrepreneur Jelle Prins has been appointed as the figurehead to oversee its development. At the outset, NADI will not yet focus on all four domains simultaneously: in collaboration with the Ministries of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the initial focus will be on (dual-use) programmes within the security and biotechnology domains.
National Investment Agency
A more detailed announcement regarding the NII, which, with €3.3 billion in start-up capital, is tasked with raising private capital for growing businesses, will follow later this month.
