Broad investments are crucial for the future of the Netherlands

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Sjoukje Heimovaara, who started as chair of 4TU in September, steps into her new role at a time of significant budget cuts in higher education. The technical universities are heavily affected, leading to difficult decisions such as discontinuing research projects and staff reductions. Her own Wageningen University and Research is also facing substantial cuts.

Heimovaara emphasizes that these financial setbacks contrast sharply with the ongoing demand for engineers and technological designers, as well as with the need for strong research and innovation to safeguard the Netherlands’ competitive position. Although political parties frequently promise to meet the European target of investing 3% of GDP in R&D, this commitment has never been achieved. According to her, politicians underestimate the importance of long-term and structural investments: without sowing, there will be nothing left to harvest.

She observes a growing focus on short-term thinking in The Hague, driven by the desire to present favourable household income figures ahead of elections. Yet investments in knowledge institutions require time before they pay off — and delaying them is damaging for society.

If a new government decides to increase funding, Heimovaara advocates for broad investments. Predicting future breakthroughs is difficult, and rapidly evolving fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence and biotechnology must be strengthened alongside existing areas of excellence.

If additional investments fail to materialize, she warns that the Netherlands risks falling further behind. Lower government funding tends to lead to reduced private-sector investment, reinforcing a downward spiral. While the current debate still focuses on protecting domestic knowledge, the country may soon need to ask itself how to acquire knowledge from elsewhere.

Read the full interview in the FD.

Sjoukje Heimovaara-Dijkstra

4TU President Dr. Sjoukje Heimovaara (born 1965) has been President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) since 2022. She took over the 4TU chair from Vinod Subramaniam in September 2025. Sjoukje studied plant breeding in Wageningen, earned her PhD in cell biology at Leiden University, worked at TNO, and later at the plant breeding company Royal Van Zanten, where she was R&D director and later CEO. Until recently, she was a member of the board of Universities of the Netherlands.

Foto Sjoukje Heimovaara: Marit Hazebroek