Themes

Together with relevant partners, NWO wants to give an extra boost to solving urgent problems in society via the choice of themes. This requires new knowledge, knowledge utilisation and a multidisciplinary approach. NWO shall commit itself to six themes for this strategy period. These have been chosen to realise strong ties between the agendas of world-class scientific research groups and the priorities of the government and national knowledge institutes.

NWO has chosen six broad themes for the coming period that relate to national and international agendas:

• Healthy Living
  Everybody wants to enjoy a long and healthy life. And if that cannot quite be the case then at least life should be spent in well-being. For some people this happens as a matter of course, yet for most of us it requires attention and care. Health is a complex and dynamic interaction between many factors. It is influenced by biological factors, life course, lifestyle, the physical, social and cultural environment, and the quality
  of and accessibility to care facilities. More


• Water and Climate
  Worldwide, water is vitally important for society. It is indispensable for life on earth and for almost all human activities. Water is an essential natural resource and an environmental factor with many facets, such as water shortages, floods, the role in ecology, energy supply, drinking water and agriculture. The demand for water shall markedly increase in the coming years as a consequence of the growing world population and an increasing welfare in the so-called emerging nations. More


• Cultural and Societal Dynamics
  Society is becoming increasingly complex and is undergoing rapid and dramatic changes. In a wide range of areas, both national and international, transformations are taking place that are closely related to each other. World views and how people view each other have changed as a consequence of globalisation, technology, commercialisation and individualisation. All of these developments are characterised by a tension and friction between the continuous scaling up of human societies and the necessary limited scale of people as individuals. More


• Sustainable Energy
  The world faces the enormous challenge of securing the energy supply for the future against acceptable prices, with as few geopolitical risks as possible and with a minimal impact on the climate. It is now clear that this global problem can only be solved with radical new concepts and techniques.More


• Connecting Sustainable Cities
  About 50% of the world’s population currently lives in cities, which are often located in vulnerable deltas. The United Nations predicts that in 2050, about 70% of the (rapidly growing) world population will live in urban areas, with challenges in areas such as water security, congestion, spatial coherence, and governance.More


• Materials: Solutions for Scarcity
  Over the next few decades, the growth of the world population and its welfare level will lead to a strongly increasing demand for raw materials, energy, food and water. Although the earth would appear to be a virtually inexhaustible source of raw materials, within the next few decades we shall reach the point when these can no longer be extracted against reasonable costs and raw materials will become scarce.More

This selection is based on an inventory of the priorities of the government, TNO (the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), innovation programmes and European themes.

October 2011: NWO launches three new research themes in line with top sector policy

In response to the Dutch cabinet's call that it's policy should become more aligned with the top sectors, NWO has in October added three new themes to the six existing research themes. The new themes are Agro, Food and Horticulture, High Tech Systems and Materials, and Creative Industry. Further information on these new themes will follow shortly.

• Creative Industry
  The NWO theme Creative Industry encompasses research into and for creative production and service industries such as fashion and industrial designers, architects, advertising agencies and the producers of software and games. The theme also covers the fields of media and entertainment, the arts, cultural heritage and cultural events. Consequently it covers the entire scope of the creative industry and it ties in with the top sector Creative industry.


• High Tech Systems and Materials
  The NWO theme High Tech Systems and Materials covers the research inspired by the challenges facing the Dutch high-tech industry and science. Research areas that form the core of High Tech Systems and Materials include: nanotechnology, microelectronics, photonics, sensor technology, embedded systems, mechatronics, advanced materials, medical technology, ICT research, fluid dynamics, plasma technology, and process and separation technology. High-tech solutions in sectors such as water, pharmaceuticals, energy, food processing, agro, etcetera also fall within High Tech Systems and Materials, but will have to be elaborated in collaboration with other themes. Sustainability (less use of energy and materials) is a part of the vision within the sector and consequently one of the scientific objectives as well.


• Agro, Food and Horticulture
  The NWO theme Agro, Food and Horticulture offers excellent scientists the chance to contribute to solving the issues within these sectors that are of growing societal and international importance. Agro, Food and Horticulture focuses on three key aspects, which tie in with the ambitions of the top sector Agrofood and the top sector Horticulture and propagation materials, namely sustainable and safe production ('more with less'), healthy food, and food security from a global perspective.