News item | 12-07-2022 | 12:00
The proposals in the second round were announced in mid-April, for which money from the National Growth Fund has been reserved by the cabinet. A number of proposals received a conditional award. This means that the grant will only become final if a number of conditions are met. A number of submitting ministries have now complied with this requirement. They submitted this to the advisory committee of the National Growth Fund. This also applies to a project from the 1st round. The advisory committee has advised the cabinet that the conditions have been met and that grants can be converted from conditional to final for 6 projects. This involves €939.9 million that should ensure more sustainable economic growth for the Netherlands.
Which projects?
6 projects receive a definitive award. It concerns 5 projects that were submitted via the departmental route in the second round and one from the 1st round. The committee has examined whether the projects submitted by the ministries have taken the steps to comply with the conditions. The advice to the cabinet provides the following justification for the conversion from conditional to final:
- Project NXTGEN HIGH TECH: the project has met the conditions to achieve a budget reduction and stronger funnel control during the term, develop a suitable governance structure, improve openness to newcomers, and map out ‘blended finance’ opportunities. This means that the conditional award of € 450 million can be converted into a definitive award.
- Project Circular Plastics: project has met the conditions to implement a budget reduction, develop a suitable governance structure, concretize international collaborations and map out ‘blended finance’ opportunities. Because some project components may offer opportunities for market financing via Invest-NL, and this can lead to budget reductions in later phases, only the 1st phase will be converted. This means that a conditional grant of €124 million can be converted into a definitive grant. Phase 2 and 3 remain conditionally awarded (€96 million).
- Project Einstein Telescope: project has met the conditions to draw up a further elaborated valorisation strategy and National monitoring and evaluation. This means that the conditional grant of €42 million can be converted into a definitive grant. The reserve of €870 million remains pending the outcome of the bid to be submitted in Europe in the coming years.
- Project PharmaNL: the applicants have met the conditions to open the consortium to other clusters and to explain the substantiation of the co-funding. This means that the conditional grant can be converted into an award of €78.8 million.
- Project NieuweWarmteNU!: project has met the condition to reduce the number of heat network projects to a selection of projects with the greatest learning and flywheel effects. This means that the conditional grant of €200 million can be converted into a definitive grant.
- Learning overview & Skills project (part of Infrastructure Lifelong Development): this proposal from the first round has met the conditions for drawing up a detailed project plan, a plan for exploring the feasibility of expanding the digital training overview to include educational levels other than MBO and private develop training courses, build in clear evaluation moments for each phase and report annually on progress and results. This means that the conditional grant of €45 million can be converted into a definitive grant.
Role advisory committee
All projects that receive money from the National Growth Fund have been carefully assessed by an independent committee. In doing so, the committee looks at the effect on the long-term growth of the Dutch economy and weighs the social advantages and disadvantages. In the event of a positive recommendation from the committee, the cabinet will decide whether the projects will receive money immediately. When making a reservation, the committee asks for a better substantiation of the proposal. As soon as they have received this, the committee will again advise the cabinet. The cabinet decides whether a project will be awarded the money.