The cabinet wants to focus more on “deep technology” but is halving the budget for Techleap to $15 million over the next three years. Techleap is a grant-funded club promoting the Dutch technology sector. “Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate,” says Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Micky Adriaansens. By focusing on “profound technical developments”, Adriaansens thinks it is making a difference.
According to Adriaansens, Dutch tech ambitions and cuts on Techleap are not in contradiction with each other. On the contrary. The minister underlines the start-up character of Techleap: companies have come into contact with each other, an infrastructure has been set up. “And now we have entered the next phase. From kindergarten to education. And the Cabinet has decided that we too want to spend the money differently.’
Deep focus
Not only will there be a greater focus on so-called ‘deep tech’, according to Adriaansens, but innovative and promising companies will continue to have access to capital ‘through all types of funds’. The minister points out that this includes “really hundreds of millions”. By deep tech, the minister refers to innovative knowledge start-ups and start-ups “that work with a large amount of knowledge from universities, for example, and that combine it with research, development and production”.
‘focus, focus, focus’
The minister acknowledges that hundreds of millions are relatively few compared to countries like the United States and China, so he believes the Netherlands should do it ‘intelligently’. The Netherlands are very good at doing business, they are very creative and knowledge-intensive, says Adriaansens. Therefore, he can “make a difference” by focusing on deep technology.
“We shouldn’t be very naive in this case”
When asked about relations between the Netherlands and China and the Chinese vice premier’s visit to the Netherlands, Adriaansens said that although the Netherlands is “a real trading country”, we shouldn’t “be very naive in this case”. ‘We can work very well together on many topics, and we are also doing it with China. But if these really are sensitive technologies that could pose a risk to national security, then you shouldn’t do it. There are some limits, but that doesn’t mean the door is closed. We have to do it sensibly.’
It matters little that the minister believes that the lines with China are kept open.
Source: BNR
Andrew Dwight is an author and economy journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of financial markets and a passion for analyzing economic trends and news. With a talent for breaking down complex economic concepts into easily understandable terms, Andrew has become a respected voice in the field of economics journalism.
