More support for ambitions of Dutch Digitalization Strategy

Society is rapidly digitizing. Investments and innovations are needed to keep the Netherlands the digital leader in Europe. That is why the government announced on June 25 that it will invest extra money in the Dutch Digitalization Strategy. The extra funding will benefit artificial intelligence (AI), among other things.

The Dutch AI Coalition is receiving a €23.5 million boost from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy to conduct further research into the use of AI. This public-private partnership is developing a Dutch approach to artificial intelligence and aims to make investments worth two billion euros in seven years.

This partnership aims to introduce AI in the Netherlands in healthcare and energy infrastructure. This will enable the Netherlands to become a leader in the use of AI. This will require approximately two billion over the next seven years. This will enable the formation of industrial chains in which companies can undertake AI experiments and learn from each other. The industry intends to use so-called AI competence centers to initiate AI experiments in business operations.

Digital skills and digitalization of the industry are two trends that are crucial for strengthening the future earning capacity of the Netherlands. This has also been reinforced by the corona crisis, with more and more people making purchases online and working digitally. This brings challenges, including in the field of cybersecurity.

In order to use the opportunities of digitalisation as a society, the right skills are needed. Digital skills are of great importance and the SLIM scheme was created for this purpose for workers. SME entrepreneurs can apply for a subsidy to promote lifelong learning in the workplace. 48 million euros has been made available annually for this purpose up to and including 2022. Want to know more about the SLIM scheme? You can do so via our website.

For more information about this extra boost, please visit the website of the Central Government. The entire Dutch Digitalisation Strategy can also be found here.