The Dutch Research Agenda (Dutch acronym NWA) derived from some 12,000 questions submitted by the Dutch public to science. These questions covered issues of safety, health, climate change, etcetera.

The agenda was written at the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and its overarching aim is to improve the connection between science and society. Because complex and relevant societal issues can’t be solved in laboratories alone, for that you need the outside world. This is why several large consortia have teamed up.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has now distributed 93 million euros. There are several themes and grants. Since 2020, the Dutch Research Agenda makes up €130 million of the budget of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

This time, the largest sum (9.9 million euros) goes to the ‘Virtual Human Platform,’ a project in which researchers assess the safety of chemicals and medicines without the use of laboratory animals. Seven research universities and one applied sciences university took part, together with several organizations, including the Dutch Kidney Foundation, the Dutch Society for the Replacement of Animal Testing, as well as companies such as Shell and Bayer. In total, 21 consortia were awarded a grant, and Utrecht University features no fewer than 34 times on the list, including five times as ‘coordinator,’ or lead applicant.

TU/e

TU/e was very successful last year, when the NWA awarded grants for the first time. The university acted as lead applicant of INTERSECT, a national research project aimed at the design of a secure Internet of Things, involving 45 parties – including universities, companies, organizations and the government – in which NWO invests almost ten million euros. The launch of this project took place recently. This time around, TU/e did not act as coordinator of a single project, and it was co-applicant in ‘only’ five projects. Its 4TU.Federation partners Delft, Twente and Wageningen did much better in that regard (see table below).