Review of the Dutch National Research Agenda Workshop Materials
High turnout, lively discussions and good outcomes
On Tuesday 10 May the Dutch National Research Agenda Workshop 'Materials – Made in Holland' took place at the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht. On the programme (see annex at top right of this page) were sessions with a total of 15 pitches from possible game changers followed by roundtable discussions. The workshop was introduced by Albert Polman, chair of the Materials Steering Group, who described the context of the new Materials Route: "Materials are everywhere! Today we will define the most engaging challenges in materials science that could lead to economic or societal impact. As the starting point we will use the strategic vision that we developed in 2015. The Dutch National Research Agenda is a next step in advancing this vision."
Dutch National Research Agenda and Materials
The challenge of the Dutch National Research Agenda is to define important complex societal and economic issues, to explore the route to resolving these and to explore which partnerships can be used for this. Within the 140 overarching questions that the Dutch National Research Agenda has set, more than twenty are strongly focused on materials and these fall into four categories:
1. New construction materials
2. Materials for sustainable energy
3. Soft materials/biomaterials
4. Smart materials
Successful meeting
The pitches during the Dutch National Research Agenda Workshop Materials were short and powerful and the roundtable discussions were lively. In particular, there was a lot of attention for the issue of impact as equally the connection with other parties. Relations with industry were emphasised as a defining characteristic for the Materials Route. The relationship with applied education at universities of applied sciences was also emphasised. "Today we are focusing our efforts on a contribution to the Dutch National Research Agenda. We are doing that with almost 100 participants via the pitches and roundtable discussions on the programme. With the outcome we want to convert important scientific, societal and economic issues in society into themes that can be investigated. Our joint aim with the Dutch National Research Agenda Steering Group is to give an extra boost to scientific research in the Netherlands," said Albert Polman during the meeting.
About the Dutch National Research Agenda and the elaboration of the routes via workshops
The Dutch National Research Agenda consists of 140 major scientific questions. These form the basis for 'routes' that enable new connections across the entire research chain. The questions and routes were formulated in 2015 and were presented to the Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Jet Bussemaker. The Dutch government has decided to adopt the 16 routes – even though these are 'exemplary' – as the starting point for the subsequent agreements about implementing the Dutch National Research Agenda in science policy. Now it is down to the researchers and research institutions to further elaborate the routes.
The 16 routes are now being defined. Via broad workshops the aim is to explore what the new connections and possibilities for new highly promising research within the routes are. Each route has one or more initiators who will work on organising the field around the route. The workshops (including the workshop Materials) are taking place this spring or have already taken place. The initiators will use the input to further elaborate the routes and will submit the plans to the government before the summer.
FOM and the Dutch National Research Agenda
In January, on the Monday evening before the Congress Physics@FOM Veldhoven, the workgroup leaders, institute directors and others spoke in detail about the significance of the Dutch National Research Agenda for physics. In January the Executive Board of FOM further discussed the current developments. The Executive Board believes it is important in the coming period to actively pay special attention to the following themes that are currently not explicitly visible in a route: sustainable energy, quantum physics/quantum technology, nanophysics/nanotechnology, building blocks of life and materials sciences.
Further information
On the FOM website you can find more information about the Dutch National Research Agenda, the various routes and the associated workshops. If you are not yet involved in a route or workshop but you can see connections, then please register with the contact persons for the route or send an email to nwa@fom.nl.