During a parliamentary hearing the directors of top sectors and knowledge organizations gave their assessment of current Dutch knowledge and innovation policy. Their unanimous advice was: go on building on the top sectors. They did have a wish list, however. In recent years 12 million euros of private research funding has not been honoured by the Agri & Food and the Horticulture top sectors because the government could not offer co-financing, explained director Loek Hermans. He asked for more money and fewer regulations for the approval process for research projects.
Erik van Seventer of Food & Biobased Research advised the lower house of parliament to increase the budget for research and innovation and use it in a focussed fashion. ‘Try looking ahead 30 or 40 years. Target the problems of the future and on that basis, formulate a programme for 100 percent sustainable energy.’