The new Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC) 2024-2027 was signed today in Rotterdam by Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate). The joint effort within the government's mission-driven innovation policy amounts to 5.7 billion euros annually. As one of the ten top sectors, Holland High Tech will contribute to this KIC agreement through public-private partnerships.
Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic affairs and climate):
"We want the Netherlands to remain at the top of innovation. This is the only way we can tackle major challenges in the areas of technology, climate, digitalization and security. By converting knowledge into innovation here, we can solve social challenges and reduce our dependence on non-EU countries and we provide jobs and income for future generations. The signing of the KIC is not a formality. For me, it shows what the strength of the Netherlands is: public and private parties that are motivated to work together on a strong and innovative Netherlands."
The importance of working together on innovation
In the KIC, the partners indicate which resources they expect to deploy. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has, among other things, deployed the new Innovation Scheme for Public Private Partnerships (PPS-I), of which the new PPP-I scheme 2024 from Holland High Tech is part of.
€180 million per year is available for the entire government's PPP-I scheme. This scheme follows the PPP Allowance Scheme. The new PPP Innovation Scheme is even better equipped to contribute to solving the challenges in the eight Knowledge and Innovation Agendas (KIAs), together with the business community and knowledge institutions. For example, the conditions for more application-oriented research have been improved, meaning that collaboration programs can also be used more for the benefit of SMEs.
Mission-driven Innovation Policy
The mission-driven innovation policy focuses on five missions (goals) in the areas of energy transition, circular economy, health & care, agriculture/water & food and safety. Key technologies, digitalization and scaling up are crucial for both social impact and economic growth. In order to properly coordinate the activities, the KIC partners therefore work together through eight KIAs. These are:
- Climate and energy
- Circular Economy
- Agriculture, Water, Food
- Health & Care
- Security (coordination by Holland High Tech)
- Key Enabling Technologies (coordination by Holland High Tech)
- Digitization
- Social Earning Capacity
