On 8 November 2024, the Policy Learning Platform held an onsite matchmaking, which requested advice regarding their policy challenge on designing and implementing a long-term, adaptive governance and support framework to identify, select, and nurture high-potential niche specialisation opportunities for innovation valorisation in the Northern Netherlands.
The Northern Netherlands Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS3) aims to achieve social and economic goals through four green transitions, creating opportunities for regional specialisation. New specialisation opportunities such as neuromorphic computing, however, require long-term innovation deployment approaches, driven by close and continuous collaboration between multiple innovation actors.Therefore, instead of providing grants to “classical” two to three-year innovation projects, the Provinces and the SNN are collaborating on a new experiment that will select one or two “niche” specialisation opportunities with future valorisation potential through a competitive process. Selected consortia will enter a long-term partnership with the SNN as the responsible managing authority to implement a jointly created vision and development strategy for their specialisation.
Regional governments will provide multi-year, tailored support, including financing for individual projects and non-financial assistance, such as expert coaching. The concrete support measures will be constantly adapted to the progress of strategy implementation, thus allowing for a policy approach clearly driven by impact-orientation and innovation valorisation.
The Northern Netherlands is currently in the process of designing the 2025 experiment, which will focus on identifying and selecting one or two specific areas with high potential. Emerging consortia will be challenged to design a clear vision and develop a strategy for the innovation valorisation opportunities they identify. Regional governments will participate actively in strategy implementation with the commitment to providing tailored, one-on-one support over a 7- to 10-year horizon, with funding sourced from various channels.
Dr Beata Kviatek from the Centre of Expertise Energy / Energy Transition Centre ENTRANCE of Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, is an invited discussant.