NWO to contribute € 550 million to top sectors in 2016–2017

FOM contribution
The total FOM contribution to the Knowledge and Innovation Contract 2016-2017 is € 125 million. The money will be spent on various smaller and larger research projects and the mission budgets of the FOM Institutes. Of this amount, € 28 million will be spent on public-private partnership (PPP). It specifically concerns Industrial Partnership Programmes (IPP) and strategic programmes.

High-quality research the foundation for innovation
With this, NWO is laying a solid foundation for innovation in our country by selecting and funding the best scientific research projects in the top sectors. Even more than in previous years, NWO is emphasizing transcending themes and initiatives that establish new links between research areas and the top sectors. NWO is therefore connecting its contribution to the top sectors to the broader context of research into major social challenges and international collaboration, as announced in its 2015–2018 Strategy.

Public–private partnership
Two hundred million euros of NWO's contribution will be spent on research that is co-funded by the private sector. Part of this will take the form of longer-term partnerships. Examples include a programme in collaboration with Wetsus and the Water Top Sector for research on water engineering and the FOM Institute ARCNL (Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography) for fundamental research on computer chip and processor technology. The consolidation of research into the private and public sectors will create opportunities to use Dutch knowledge in products and services. This will take the form of a programme for lecturers, in which university for applied sciences lecturers will conduct practical research at NWO Institutes (such as the FOM Institutes) and attempt to forge alliances with (small and medium-sized) enterprises and devote attention to the development of talent.

Last June an independent evaluation committee concluded that the IPP as an instrument for public-private partnership, has its own unique position and is of major strategic importance for fundamental physics and the application of this. FOM succeeds in successfully connecting top quality to innovation. In 2016-2017 various new IPPs will be developed within the Top Sectors HTSM, Energy and Chemistry. The committee also called for the expansion of this unique funding instrument, for example for better connections with the SMEs (small and medium enterprises). As a pilot FOM will therefore open the instruments KIEM and LIFT (developed by NWO Chemical Sciences) for the Top Sector HTSM.

More crossover and consolidated initiatives in public-private partnerships
An important aspect of NWO's commitment for 2016–2017 is to address major social challenges at both national and international levels. For example, the share of crossover and consolidated initiatives in public–private partnerships is more than one-third of the overall investment (approximately € 75 million of the € 200 million). Moreover, NWO will be coordinating with major European research programmes. By broadening its scope, NWO is already responding to the realisation of the Dutch National Research Agenda, in which the scientific community, citizens and the government will develop key topics for research together. Some of the concrete crossover and consolidated initiatives in 2016-2017 that are already directly linked to the National Research Agenda include:

• Building blocks of life
• Materials for sustainability
• Circular economy
• Big Data
• Responsible innovation
• Complexity

For these first two initiatives FOM will open two calls, in collaboration with other NWO divisons.

More information
For more information about the FOM contribution, please contact Dr. Victor Land.
Please see the NWO website for the newsitem and the knowledge and innovation contract 2016-2017.
The Work Programme 2016-2017 of NWO with the propositions for each sector will be published later this week on the website www.nwo.nl.