Toespraak bij het Innovative Solutions Seminar in Seoul, Zuid Korea

Toespraak | 04-11-2014

Your Majesties, Your Excellency, minister Choi, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are connected in many ways.

In the Netherlands we use phones that are manufactured in Korea, partly with Dutch machinery and equipment.

In Korea you eat peppers and tomatoes that are cultivated here, often from Dutch seeds, in Korean greenhouses designed in the Netherlands.

And soon Korean wind will drive the blades of turbines designed by Dutch technology.

We face the same issues and challenges. We can therefore help each other with solutions:

• We are both involved in a struggle against water, while at the same time we strive to use it to our best advantage.
• Our countries are densely populated, which is why we must use land efficiently and take a smart approach to infrastructure and mobility.
• We have an ageing population, which is why we must seek solutions to control social spending and maintain our labour force.
• And we have set comparable goals for energy transition.

We are both part of a world that faces even greater challenges. These global challenges include growing demand for food, threats to national and international security and to the environment.

We not only consider these to be challenges, but also interesting growth markets with abundant opportunities. And this is one area where we can complement each other with high tech and hardware; with creativity and the latest technology.

Dutch innovations are used all over the world. For example, our companies and knowledge institutions applied their expertise in the field of water management to make New Orleans “waterproof”, and to construct a storm surge barrier in St Petersburg.

Our knowledge institutions and high-tech companies worked together to create the care robot which helps with care for the elderly or assists in operations and treatments. And four out of every five greenhouses outside Europe are designed in the Netherlands.

Our entrepreneurs and knowledge institutions know how to turn good ideas into successful services and products. For its part, the government must create the right conditions. In the Netherlands we do this by concentrating on nine top sectors. These are the Dutch sectors that are the most successful in the world, and where 95% of the innovation takes place. This involves intensive – and increasingly self-evident – cooperation between entrepreneurs, researchers and public authorities, in what is known as the Triple Helix approach.

The top sectors have solutions available - and continue to devise others – in order to meet the previously mentioned global challenges. Dutch Solutions for Global Challenges is also the title of the Dutch response to the European Horizon 2020 program. I understand that South Korea also has major ambitions to participate in European research programmes. The Netherlands would be pleased to be a partner in this respect.

The Netherlands is keen to share Dutch solutions with others. We look across our national borders and across borders of business and R&D to forge new partnerships and work together on third markets.

That is why I am accompanied by a broad delegation of enterprises and knowledge institutions. Most of these businesses are SMEs. In the Netherlands, they make up the backbone of the Dutch economy and are the source of innovation. It is precisely these companies, which because of their limited size and market position are always on the lookout for new strategies and business models. They are the builders of modern greenhouses and the designers of wind turbines. They are the creators of applied games that make our lives easier. They are the basis of our creative economy that generates tomorrow’s solutions. And, together with knowledge institutions, they are very interested in cooperation with Korea.

Based on what I have seen and heard so far, this interest is mutual. Which is good, as international issues can only be addressed by international cooperation.

I know that many people have contributed to today’s event. I wish to thank the keynote speakers, all the people from the Korean partner organisations, and the staff at the embassy and in the Netherlands, who all worked hard to organise today’s breakout and matchmaking sessions.

I wish you all a very productive day.