On 12 October, the Mayor of Delft, Marja van Bijsterveldt, who also chairs the Dutch Knowledge City Network (Netwerk Kennissteden Nederland), presented a position paper entitled Impact van kennis (The impact of knowledge) to Ingrid van Engelshoven, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science. The network comprises cities with universities, the VSNU, the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (Vereniging Hogescholen) and KENCES. Henri Lenferink, the Mayor of Leiden, stepped down after having served as chair for 10 years.

With its 'The impact of knowledge' position paper, the Dutch Knowledge City Network hopes to further strengthen the Dutch capacity for generating knowledge and innovation. Van Bijsterveldt touched upon the contribution made by the network to insights into social and economic issues and how these are dealt with. The position paper sets out an action agenda with the following themes:

• increasing the social impact of knowledge;
• strengthening knowledge-intensive ecosystems;
• improving urban appeal features, in particular student accommodation and internationalisation.
   

The network forms alliances based on these themes. Each alliance is championed by a government leader, such as an alderman of a knowledge city, who takes charge of matters on a daily basis. The 'unified government' adage has the national government serving as an important partner in the collaboration, acting as ambassador and adviser. The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, in particular, are all very active in the partnership.

As the new chair, Van Bijsterveldt says she is looking forward and committed to strengthening the partnership between knowledge cities, research universities, universities of applied sciences and the national government. 'By learning from one another and setting a shared goal, we can increase the impact of knowledge.'

Acquaint yourself with the position paper here.