Netherlands

Highlights in 2020
Highlights in 2020

High impact innovation activity triggered by MI

The Netherlands supports a proposal of India to launch a multilateral call on aviation fuels; in line with IC4 and the mission-proposal for bio-economy. This call could be launched in July. The Netherlands aims to contribute through a national funding scheme of €3.5 million. The specific option for international cooperation and active emphasis on the benefits of international cooperation in this national funding scheme would not have occurred without MI.

Update on clean energy innovation policies and strategies

The Netherlands has set an ambitious CO2-reduction target of 49% in 2030 compared to 1990, with a view on increasing the EU target for CO2-emission reduction to 55% in 2030. The Netherlands is targeting CO2-reduction on a sectoral level with the Dutch Climate Agreement of 2019 for the Electricity sector, Industry, Mobility, The built environment and Agriculture & land-use. The knowledge and innovation challenges for these sectoral missions have been translated in 2019 into the mission-oriented knowledge and innovation agenda (IKIA), which contains 13 mission-oriented innovation programs (MMIP’s). Through sectoral Mission-oriented Innovation teams (MI-teams) – composed of end-users, private actors, knowledge institutes and government agencies – all Dutch innovation efforts concerning Climate and Energy across all TRL-levels are guided towards the MMIP’s and the missions of the Climate Agreement, creating focus on those innovations and technologies with which we can achieve the biggest impact.  The Netherlands is also currently drafting a mission oriented international innovation agenda, in line with the IKIA, so that our international efforts in various initiatives contributes to the missions of our Climate Agreement.

In 2020 the Netherlands committed roughly €320 million public funds[1] and €590 million private funds on climate and energy innovation, through the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant for 2020[2]. We expect his commitment to increase in 2021 to €355mln public funds and €590mln private funds.

Also, in 2020 The Netherlands has drafted two additional cross-cutting innovation programmes, supporting the MMIP’s of the IKIA. One is the mission-oriented innovation program Hydrogen[3] and the other is the innovation agenda for Green Gas[4].

Major innovation initiatives and programmes in 2020/21

The declaration of intent on knowledge and innovation (KIC) of 2020 between public and private parties gave insight in and commitment of foreseen financial means for RD&D[5]. For climate and energy (the IKIA) this was almost €1 billion in 2020: about €320 million public funding[6] for RDD and €590 million private funding. For 2021 the KIC has been updated, resulting again in almost €1 billion for climate and energy in 2021 (€355 million public and €590 million private).

On top of the existing 13 MMIPs of the IKIA of the Dutch Climate Agreement, The Netherlands has launched two cross-cutting innovation programmes, supporting the MMIP’s of the IKIA. One is an MMIP on Hydrogen and the other is an innovation agenda on Green Gas.

The gained momentum on hydrogen through the Hydrogen MMIP, has led to a proposal on hydrogen in the Dutch ‘Growth Fund’ of €338 million for the RD&D-part. The proposal has been approved for the RD&D-part under certain conditions and will start in 2022.

In 2020 The Netherlands launched the first MOOI-call; a mission-oriented subsidy scheme of the Topsector Energy to facilitate integral integrated concepts to advance on the set missions for 2030 in the IKIA. The number of proposals for this call was overwhelming. The original budget of €65 million has been raised in 2021 to €107 million in order to meet demand.

Also, the Energy Innovation Demonstration grant scheme (DEI+) call has received more proposals than could be facilitated. Here too, the original 2020 budget of €86mln has been raised in 2021 to €108 million. The DEI+ call of 2021 is therefore also raised to €126,6 million.

Moreover, TNO (the Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research) determined the priorities of her research programs in interaction with the Mission-Innovation Teams of the IKIA. This amounts to a total of roughly €44mln for climate and energy.

Furthermore, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) committed €22 million to the missions on climate, energy, circular economy and sustainable mobility. This resulted in four calls for fundamental research that are currently being shaped: Sustainable materials for wind and solar energy; Societal acceptance and integration; Circular resources, products and processes; and Carbon-free and circular shipping.

Private sector engagement in 2020/21

The Netherlands supports public-private collaboration through various policies:

  • General policies, such as the public-private allowance, which facilitates private contributions for public-private partnerships for research and innovation within the Top Sectors. (Dutch link)
  • Energy-innovation policies, requiring a private contribution (in-cash or in-kind), for example the Renewable Energy Scheme (HER) (on average 50%), the DEI+ (on average 75%), the MOOI (on average 40%) (in 2019 public schemes of €172 million, private matching of €181 million)
  • Private actors are part of the Mission Innovation Teams, prioritizing innovation efforts within the Mission Oriented Innovation Programs.By involving the private sector and the demand-side of innovation in aligning our energy innovation investments (from fundamental research to demonstration/implementation), policies, regulations, market conditions and international efforts we aim to create focus and mass in clean energy investments. This provides a more predictable and focussed framework for investors to invest in low-carbon innovations.
  • A new investment agency – Invest-NL – aims to invest in innovative, low-carbon technologies with a higher risk profile. This venture capital should trigger new investments from the private sector to bring innovative technologies onto the market.
  • The creation of the ‘Growth Fund’, an investment fund to enhance the structural growth of Dutch economy. This fund will focus on education, labor, research, innovation and large transitions in for example energy, industry and agriculture.
  • The Dutch declaration of intent on knowledge and innovation (KIC), in which both public and private actors specify their intended contribution to the Dutch mission oriented Topsector policy. This amounts to roughly €355 million public funds[7] and €590 million private funds per year on climate and energy innovation.

Major activities in support of the Innovation Challenges in 2020/21

In 2020/2021 activities from the first phase of MI have been further developed. These are the ACT ERA-net cofund call (IC3), the development of a Comfort climate box (IC7), and the development of the first European Hydrogen Valley (IC8).

Furthermore, The Netherlands has contributed to the mission proposal for bio-economy, related to our activities in IC4.

Moreover, The Netherlands supports a proposal of India that will be discussed during MI-6: a multilateral call on aviation biofuels; in line with IC4 and the mission-proposal for bio-economy. This call could be launched in July. The Netherlands aims to contribute through a national funding scheme of €3.5 million.

Other Mission Innovation related activity in 2020/21

The Netherlands has participated in the 2020 MI Champions program.

The Netherlands has developed a draft proposal for their commitment to the missions and the platform of the second phase of MI. Furthermore, we have managed to reserve yearly funding for the MI-Secretariat.

Public sector RD&D investment

New Collaborations

  • Collaborator: United States
    • Name of collaboration
      • Statement of Intent (SOI) NL-US
    • Brief Description
      • Statement of intent to collaborate with focus on green hydrogen. In the process of identifying potential other topics, such as AI/quantum and clean tech/efficiency
    • Sectors
      • Public – private
    • Type of collaboration
      • RD&D
    • Duration
      • 2020 – 2025

 

  • Collaborator: India and other MI- members
    • Name of collaboration
      • Multilateral call on aviation fuels
    • Brief Description
      • Proposal of India to be discussed during MI-6: a multilateral call on aviation fuels; in line with IC4 and the mission-proposal for bio-economy
    • Sectors
      • Public – private
    • Type of collaboration
      • RD&D
    • Duration
      • 2021 – 2025
    • Funding amount
      • €3,5mln budget for a national subsidy scheme
    • Additional information

 

  • Collaborator: Denmark
    • Name of collaboration
      • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) NL-DK
    • Brief Description
      • MoU on cooperation in the Energy Transition, signed June 2020. The objective of this MoU is to establish a framework for mutually beneficial cooperation between the Participants in the field of the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the European Green Deal and the global energy transition
    • Sectors
      • Public – public
    • Type of collaboration
      • Research
    • Duration
      • 2020

 

  • Collaborator: Denmark
    • Name of collaboration
      • Additional Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) NL-DK
    • Brief Description
      • In December 2020 the Netherlands and Denmark have signed an additional MoU allowing national grid operators Tennet, Gasunie and Energinet to continue undertaking research under the North Sea Wind Power Hub Programme into a joint energy hub in the North Sea
    • Sectors
      • Public – public
    • Type of collaboration
      • Research
    • Duration
      • 2020
    • Funding amount
      • The research under the NSWPH programme is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union

 

  • Collaborator: Germany
    • Name of collaboration
      • Call to action NL-DE
    • Brief Description
      • The call to action is a follow-up on the MoU signed in 2019 between the two countries and it pinpoints where the interesting leads are for public-private collaboration. The MoU on energy collaboration was meant to underline the cooperation in the field of the energy transition, including research and innovation by means of bilateral or multilateral research projects. Furthermore, in January 2021 both countries have signed the innovation pact in the field of an innovative and sustainable industry. In 2021 a joint call for research on electrochemical conversion and materials is foreseen
    • Sectors
      • Public – private
    • Type of collaboration
      • Research
    • Duration
      • 2019
    • Funding amount
      • 5M€ (budget for research in the Netherlands in the joint ECCM call)

[1] This budget contains some elements that are not reported via the IEA (for example circular economy). Therefore it is somewhat higher than the budget reported in this survey.

[2] https://www.topsectoren.nl/publicaties/kamerstukken/2019/november/12-11-19/kic-2020-2023

[3] https://www.topsectorenergie.nl/sites/default/files/uploads/Meerjarenprogramma Waterstof – 2e consultatieconcept (3 sept 2019).pdf

[4] https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/kamerstukken/2020/12/17/bijlage-innovatieagenda-groen-gas

[5] https://www.topsectoren.nl/publicaties/kamerstukken/2019/november/12-11-19/kic-2020-2023

[6] This budget contains some elements that are not reported via the IEA (for example circular economy). Therefore it is somewhat higher than the budget reported in this survey.

[7] This budget contains some elements that are not reported via the IEA (for example circular economy). Therefore it is somewhat higher than the reported budget in answer to question 1 of this survey.