On September 8, 2021 Minister van Engelshoven (Education, Culture, Science) received the new National Roadmap for Large-Scale Infrastructure 2021. In the new Roadmap nine groups present their proposals for investments in a large-scale research infrastructure for the next 10 years. In the domain Life and Health sciences four groups have been identified: green life sciences, life sciences & enabling technology, medical sciences, and health sciences.
The research infrastructure has the highest priority for science in the Netherlands and can qualify for NWO funding. In the coming five years, a total of 200 million euros will be distributed over two funding rounds.
A large-scale research infrastructure is essential to the position of Dutch science: it makes a significant contribution to innovation and helps solve major social issues related to the environment, the climate, health and civilisation. The Roadmap 2021 is the next step in a future long-term strategy for a large-scale research infrastructure, in which the research field is being asked to step up coordination and cooperation. This will allow investments to be used more effectively and efficiently, and enable people working in the field to set priorities for the use of the limited resources.