The Academy's and NWO's research institutes jointly make up the portfolio of national research institutes. The Academy and NWO jointly ensure that these national institutes add value to the Dutch knowledge landscape and are well equipped to meet changing scientific and societal challenges.
In 2018, the Academy and NWO mandated an independent committee to evaluate the portfolio of Academy and NWO institutes. The committee concluded that the institutes strengthen the impact of Dutch science. It considered such issues as what added value they bring to the Dutch research landscape and to what extent they are responsive and dynamic in addressing new scientific and societal challenges.
The portfolio committee concludes that the current portfolio of national research institutes provides substantial added value by strengthening the impact of Dutch science as a whole. The committee offers a number of recommendations for maximising that added value.
The committee sets out a number of basic conditions and criteria for institutes included in the portfolio. A national research institute must conduct world-leading research and make the importance of its research visible to society as a whole. In addition, the committee expects each institute to ultimately play at least a national role in exploring new lines of research and in coordinating the research landscape in the Netherlands.
The committee indicates clearly the basis from which the portfolio of institutes derives its added value for Dutch science. In doing so, it outlines a clear assessment framework that can be utilised to continue developing the portfolio in the years to come. The committee has also introduced a number of basic conditions and criteria for added value that a national research institute in the portfolio should meet.
The boards of the Academy and NWO have endorsed these criteria.
The committee also advises on how the system can be jointly managed and administered by NWO and the Academy, and it makes a specific proposal for introducing greater dynamism into the system.
The Academy and NWO endorse the need for making strategic choices regarding the portfolio. They wish to involve other relevant parties within the knowledge landscape in making strategic choices about institutes and their mission, and they consider it important to relate those choices to other major investments with a long-term impact. In June 2020, following on from the evaluation of the institute portfolio, the boards of the Academy and NWO set up the Permanent Committee on National Institutes (PCNI). The PCNI will advise both boards in the years ahead, either on request or at its own initiative, about broad developments in science and society that are relevant to the portfolio of national research institutes.