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The Dutch government decided in 2004 to implement demand programming and demand funding for applied research by TNO, the GTIs, and later also DLO. This decision was made to (partially) fulfil the recommendations of the ad hoc Committee "Bridge Function TNO/GTIs" (Cie. Wijffels), which made various suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the knowledge infrastructure for applied research in the Netherlands. The goal of this process of demand steering and funding was to ensure that the research from these institutes would better align with the needs of various government departments, society, and businesses.
In 2008, the government commissioned a midterm evaluation. Now, two years later, it is being questioned whether – and how – the alignment between the research carried out by TNO and GTIs and the demand side has improved compared to 2004. At the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs), Dialogic conducted a final evaluation of the Demand Steering Instrument for TNO and GTIs from mid-October 2010 to mid-March 2011.
This report discusses the results of the final evaluation of the Demand Steering Instrument for TNO and GTIs. It addresses the following main questions:
- Has the alignment between the research from the institutes and the demands of the government (specifically different departments), society, and businesses improved compared to 2004?
- To what extent has the demand steering process contributed to improving the alignment between knowledge demand and knowledge supply?
- How have the institutes (re)organized and (re)structured themselves to align their research programming with the demands?
- To what extent has the knowledge and research policy at the involved departments been strengthened by demand steering?
