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‘Reap the rewards of the investments made’

The total investment by the Netherlands in education, knowledge and innovation lag in comparison to the best-performing knowledge societies. In the latest annual evaluation of the Dutch Innovation Platform’s Knowledge Investment Agenda (KIA) workgroup it is evident that the Netherlands has not caught up with the global top 5 in the past year.

TI Pharma supports KIA’s vision that “a strong knowledge society is made or broken by a long-term, dedicated effort from all parties involved with the knowledge society, including politics and government.” Willem de Laat, managing director of TI Pharma, comments: “KIA’s conclusion that the Netherlands’ use of financial means is not sufficiently predictable and coordinated is something I also believe. The report ‘Bouw op talent! (Build on talent!)’, which SER President Alexander Rinnooy Kan presented yesterday literally states: ‘a new line of research that leads to use of knowledge is not something you run for 4 to 6 years, but for 10 to 15 years.’ This contrasts sharply with the uncertainty surrounding the subsequent financing of TI Pharma. At the moment there is still no clarity on the issue of subsequent financing despite a fantastic Mid-Term Review. This uncertainty is already damaging what we have built with TI Pharma. Of course, this also avenges itself in a quickly globalizing knowledge economy if you want to attract foreign R&D. Stay the course now and reap the rewards of the investments made.”

TI Pharma hopes that the KIA coalition’s five step plan makes the government see what a waste it is not to continue to finance TI Pharma. Or, in the words of Rinnooy Kan, “Knowledge investments make the Dutch economy stronger and actually bring in money.”