In January 2024, NWO will launch the call 'Future-proof high-tech equipment', the first call from the National Growth Fund program NXTGEN High-tech. The aim is to develop a new generation of high-tech equipment focused on sustainability, digitalization, health and technology sovereignty of the Netherlands. NWO provides funding for developing a new generation of high-tech equipment aimed at sustainability, digitalisation, health and technology sovereignty of the Netherlands. A total of 10.6 million euros is available for the public-private research.
The call 'Future-proof high-tech equipment - NxtGen Hightech open call 2023' focuses on research to promote the development of a new generation of high-tech equipment in the Netherlands. The Netherlands' current strength in this field is due to the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of various players, including companies, knowledge institutions, governments and financiers. To maintain this position, significant investments are needed to strengthen future earning capacity.
Application areas
The National Growth Fund programme NxtGen Hightech aims to develop, deploy and apply new knowledge in six promising application domains over the next seven years. These application domains are:
- Laser Satcom
- Energy conversion and storage
- Biomedical manufacturing technology
- Semicon equipment for heterogeneous integration
- Flexible micro-factories for composites
- Hands-free agrifood
Research objective
The purpose of the 2023 call is to develop a new generation of high-tech equipment aimed at sustainability, digitalisation, health and technology sovereignty of the Netherlands. Here, the requested research should link at least one prioritised key technology to one of the system technologies. The prioritised key technologies are aimed at strengthening the Dutch ecosystem for the next generation of high-tech equipment and are:
- Cyber-physical systems / robotics
- (Opto)mechatronics
- Semiconductor devices / Lithographic systems
- Thin film / Plasma technology
- Bionanotechnology
The selected system technologies for the 2023 call play a key role in all six application domains within NxtGen Hightech and are:
- Smart industry
- Systems engineering
