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Commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK), Dialogic will evaluate the public-private programme Smart Industry 2015-2020 from October to December 2020, and provide recommendations for logical follow-up steps. In 2015, EZK initiated the Smart Industry programme to stimulate the digitisation of the industry on a broad scale.
In 2015, three action lines were deployed:
1) capitalising on existing knowledge (largely focused on creating awareness);
2) accelerating in fieldlabs (aimed at creating a "movement" of fieldlabs), and
3) strengthening the foundation with actions focused on promoting knowledge (e.g. through knowledge and research agendas), enhancing competences and skills (required for Smart Industry), and improving the conditions in the ICT domain.
During the years 2015-2017, the focus was mainly on development, and with the publication of the Smart Industry Implementation Agenda 2018-2021, a acceleration was achieved through nine projects, also identifying desired industrial transformations in more detail. The activities encompass a diverse range, involving an equally varied set of stakeholders. While abroad the term "digital transformation" or "Manufacturing 4.0" is often used, in the Netherlands we refer to it as Smart Industry. This is commendable because the "brand name" of the public-private programme Smart Industry, launched in 2015, is now used as a generic term for the acceleration of the digital transformation of the Dutch industry and the necessary conditions to facilitate this.
The key question is to what extent EZK has succeeded in actually initiating or accelerating the aforementioned "Smart Industry movement" by promoting the diverse set of activities mentioned above. The budget investments by EZK are modest, and the question arises whether sufficient leverage has been created to mobilise a broad coalition of parties and the industry itself to embark on the requested transformation.
A team of six researchers will conduct the evaluation from October to December. In addition to desk research, the evaluation will include a portfolio analysis combined with CBS microdata, a survey among participants in the fieldlabs, interviews, and group discussions.