The cabinet wants the country’s main economic sectors to join forces with leading research institutes to improve the competitiveness of products.

Economic Affairs Minister Maxime Verhagen presented his new business policy in Leiden on Tuesday. In it he outlines how the economic sector should enter into innovation contracts with research institutes to identify areas where research can improve competition.

The institutes the minister has in mind are the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). He wants them to submit joint plans to the ministry before the end of the year. Minister Verhagen will decide in the spring of 2012 how much money will be allocated to which projects.

The research institutes will contribute at least 600 million euros to the various research projects as of 2015. Forty percent of the required funds are to be provided by the business community.

Technical studies
Mr Verhagen earlier identified nine main economic sectors: water, agro-food, horticulture, high-tech, life sciences, the chemical industry, logistics and creative industry. The nine sectors presented their plans to the cabinet in June.

The cabinet has adopted many of these plans. For instance, businesses investment will be rewarded with tax breaks. Foreign graduates who agree to remain in the Netherlands to work will also enjoy tax benefits.
Demand from the business community will determine whether new training courses are introduced.

From 2015 onward, 310 million euros will be earmarked to improve higher education and increase the number of students graduating from technical studies. Prominent businessmen, politicians and scientists will be asked to help attract foreign businesses. The government hopes foreign investments will create 3,000 new jobs by next year.

Earlier, the government announced an innovation fund will be created for small and medium-sized businesses. The government also said it would it would stand surety for larger amounts when small businesses need to take out loans.

Raised fees
In response to the announcement, the university umbrella organisation VSNU has criticised the plans. It says the government wants a better performance from universities with less money. Sijbolt Noorda, chairman of the VSNU says 500 million euros from gas revenues that would have gone into higher education is no longer available. He also points out Immigration Minister Gerd Leers recently announced that university fees for foreign students would be increased. Meanwhile Minister Verhagen wants studying in the Netherlands become more attractive.  

The Netherlands wants to be one of the top five knowledge economies in the world. To this end, the government has earmarked 1.3 billion euros from 2012. The amount is to increase to more than two billion from 2015.

(gsh/nc/imm)
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