The Netherlands offers a broad range of funding opportunities for research and innovation. Public research funding is mainly organised through national research councils, ministries, innovation programmes, charities, and European partnerships. The Dutch funding landscape strongly promotes collaboration between academia, industry, government, and societal organisations
Dutch Research Council (NWO)
The main public research funder in the Netherlands is the Dutch Research Council (NWO – Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek). NWO is funded primarily by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and annually allocates more than €1.5 billion to research, talent development, infrastructure, and knowledge utilisation. NWO supports fundamental, applied, and interdisciplinary research across all scientific domains.
A closely connected organisation is ZonMw, the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, which is funded mainly by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). ZonMw focuses on healthcare innovation, medical research, public health, and societal wellbeing, and works closely with NWO in several funding programmes.
Main Funding Lines within NWO
NWO organises its funding through several major programme lines:
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate
The principal aim of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat – EZK) is to stimulate innovation, economic growth, and the competitiveness of the Netherlands. Its innovation policy focuses on strengthening the Dutch knowledge economy through strategic investments in research, technology development, sustainability, and public-private collaboration. The agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate is RVO. RVO programmes are particularly relevant for applied research, valorisation, pilot facilities, and collaboration with companies.
A key element of its policy is the mission-driven innovation approach, in which government, industry, knowledge institutes, and societal organisations are stimulated to collaborate on major societal challenges such as energy transition, digitalisation, health, security, and circularity. These ambitions are implemented through the National Growth Fund, the Dutch Top Sectors policy (with the PPSI-instrument) and other policy instruments.
KIAs and the NTS
The Knowledge and Innovation Agendas (KIAs) are a central component of the Dutch mission-driven innovation policy. They aim to translate the Netherlands’ major societal and economic challenges into coordinated research and innovation priorities. The KIAs are developed jointly by government ministries, knowledge institutes, universities, companies, Top Sectors, and societal organisations within the framework of the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC).
The Dutch mission-driven innovation policy focuses on five major societal missions:
- Climate and Energy,
- Circular Economy,
- Agriculture, Water and Food,
- Health and Care,
- Safety and Security.
In addition, cross-cutting KIAs support enabling domains such as:
- Key Enabling Technologies,
- Digitalisation,
- Mission-Driven Innovation,
- Social Earning Capacity.
The KIAs define research priorities, innovation roadmaps, and public-private collaboration opportunities for a four-year period (currently 2024–2027). They guide investments by ministries, NWO, RVO, Top Sectors, regional authorities, and private partners. Through the current KIC 2024–2027, approximately €5.7 billion is being invested in innovation activities, combining public and private funding.
An important development in 2026 is the introduction of the National Technology Strategy (NTS). The NTS was launched to strengthen the Netherlands’ strategic position in critical and emerging technologies that are considered essential for economic resilience, technological sovereignty, and future earning capacity. The strategy focuses on a selected number of priority technologies where the Netherlands already has strong scientific and industrial capabilities or where strategic investments are considered necessary.
The ten NTS technology domains include:
- Artificial Intelligence and Data,
- Quantum Technologies,
- Semiconductor Technologies,
- Cybersecurity Technologies,
- Integrated Photonics,
- Imaging Technologies,
- Mechatronics and Optomechatronics,
- Energy Materials,
- Biomolecular and Cell Technologies,
- Advanced Process Technologies.
The overall goal of the KIAs and the NTS is to strengthen the Netherlands’ innovation capacity, accelerate solutions to societal challenges, stimulate economic growth, and increase Europe’s strategic autonomy in critical technologies. The agendas also aim to better align national funding instruments, regional ecosystems, European programmes, and industrial strategies.
Health Funds and Charitable Organisations
In addition to governmental funding, many Dutch health charities and foundations provide research grants focused on specific diseases and societal challenges. These include organisations dedicated to cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes, and rare diseases. Many of these organisations collaborate through the umbrella organisation Samenwerkende Gezondheidsfondsen (SGF).
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