Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: International relations
Together, India and Netherlands can contribute towards sufficient energy, water, food and health for billions of people, and further schemes like Ayushman Bharat
India will generously host a State Visit by the King and Queen of the Netherlands, as well as an economic mission and a Tech Summit with the Netherlands comprising four cabinet ministers and more than 200 participants form companies, knowledge institutes and the government.
Central to this are two things that will create more win-win opportunities for both countries: joint mission-driven innovation as a way to tackle global challenges and public-private partnerships as a means of finding cost-effective solutions in the areas of water, health and agriculture.
More than a decade ago, India and the Netherlands began to cooperate on innovation, this great driver of sustainable economic growth. Together we started innovating in areas of common interest, such as crop sciences, medical devices for affordable health, smart energy grids, big data and urban water systems.
Over the years, it was funded no fewer than 34 research projects, which not only generated new knowledge and economic value, but also brought more safety, health, and opportunities to our communities.
Take the LOTUSHR project, for example. India and the Netherlands implemented a holistic approach to recovering water, energy and nutrients from the 1.6 million liters of waste water produced by New Delhi each day at the Barapullah Drain.
In the past, this water would end up untreated in the Yamuna, thereby polluting New Delhi’s water source. This new approach reduces water scarcity and treatment costs and complements the Modi Government’s Swachh Bharat mission to clean up India.
Key to our work has been public-private partnerships between government, the private sector and academia, an approach pioneered by the Netherlands when the country began transforming into a knowledge economy in the 1980s.
Partners from all three domains share knowledge, pool investments and align goals according to long-term roadmaps, which allows all to achieve better and more cost-effective solutions.
The Netherlands ranks highly on the global innovation index and is the world’s second-largest agri-food exporter.
Last year, the Netherlands innovated its approach to innovation. Next to focusing innovation on practical, industry-specific solutions, we now focus our innovation policy on a higher purpose.
Dubbed mission-driven innovation, we now encourage public-private partnerships to address the global challenges that face mankind.
The four social themes that inspire our missions are Energy transition and sustainability, Agriculture, water and food, Health and Healthcare, and Security.
Inspired by these themes, the Netherlands has formulated 25 missions. These missions focus on ensuring a greater and healthy life expectancy, sufficient clean water and safe food, lower greenhouse gas emissions, affordable sustainable energy and a safe Netherlands to live and work in.
In addition to this, we have also identified the key technologies we need to realise our mission. These are among others biotechnology, photonics, nano technology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
In the coming years, our focus lies on these four themes and the relevant key technologies through multi-year programmes that cover the entire chain from fundamental research to market introductions. Thus, we may also address the societal challenges we share with India along this route.
The State Visit and the Tech Summit will mark the beginning of a new period in which India and the Netherlands will begin work on a new bilateral knowledge and innovation agenda.
Together, we can contribute towards sufficient energy, water, food and health for billions of people.
For example, we can aim to double farmers’ income through sustainable supply chains and provide accessible and affordable healthcare, in line with the Ayushman Bharat scheme.