Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate) and German State Secretary Sabine Döring (Education and Research) signed the letter of intent yesterday at the Hannover Messe, the world's largest technology industry fair. Companies will show their innovations in the field of digitization and sustainability of the (manufacturing) industry, ICT, high-tech materials, mobility, semiconductors and energy infrastructure.
Dutch-German cooperation
This cooperation involves more public-private partnerships between Dutch and German companies, knowledge institutions and governments for the next generation of batteries that contain fewer critical raw materials such as lithium. Both countries have also expressed their intention to enable more recycling in this sector and to research and develop new components for battery cell technology. In this way, both countries can continue to lead the way in economic and scientific fields. Agreements have previously been made about this via the German-Dutch Innovation and Technology Pact in 2021.
Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate):
Innovation and sustainability are necessary for our future jobs and income. They are also the answers to challenges such as resource scarcity and reducing our dependence on non-EU countries. That is why we need to work more intensively at European level with companies, knowledge institutes and governments. The agreements with Germany on battery technology are a good example of this. In addition to being strong trading partners, we also need to do more research and ultimately produce together.
