It’s now or never: if the Netherlands fails to act, our position as a frontrunner in data and cloud will slip to the middle of the pack. With this warning, Frits Grotenhuis, Director of the Topsector ICT, and Peter Verkoulen, Programme Director of the Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing & Cloud (CoE-DSC), underline the urgency of coordinated action.

Data and AI have become one of the ten priorities in the National Technology Strategy (NTS). They form the foundation of digital autonomy and are therefore of geopolitical significance.

Grotenhuis explains: “The volume of data is growing exponentially. Thanks to computing power and storage capacity, we can do more and more — but that makes ownership crucial. Who decides how data are used? If we leave that to other global powers, we lose control over our digital sovereignty.”