Accelerating together is the only option. That is the motto of the Dutch Digitalization Strategy (NDS) launched by the Cabinet. It is a joint digitization strategy of municipalities, provinces, water boards, public service providers and the central government to strengthen the country's digital base and address societal challenges. In an increasingly digital world, this cooperation between governments is essential for a resilient society and a strong economy.
Digitization presents us with pressing issues. Think of fragmentation in IT policy, innovation, a shortage of digital professionals and the geopolitical need to be less dependent on foreign technology providers. With the NDS, the Netherlands is focusing on direction, cooperation, resilience and a future-oriented approach.
"The NDS is an important milestone," said Eddie van Marum, State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). Van Marum is responsible for digitization. "The need and urgency to jointly accelerate as 1 government in the digital world is widely shared. We cannot afford to proceed as separate organizations. I am very grateful to the provinces, municipalities, water boards and public service providers for their constructive contribution and commitment. Digitalization now touches every aspect of our society. It has become an indispensable supply, just like food, energy, water and education. The Dutch must be able to trust that public services work easily and continue to function well. This cooperation gives me great confidence in the future of digital government."
The NDS emphasizes 6 priorities on which all government organizations are accelerating together as 1 government. Namely:
Data responsibly shared and leveraged across layers of government .
Leveraging the opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) responsibly .
Strengthening the digital resilience and digital autonomy of government .
Strengthening digital skills of civil servants and having a modern work environment .
The NDS underlines that cooperation is essential to achieve breakthroughs. A follow-up step is to identify the investments needed to achieve a powerful digital government that works for all Dutch people. In parallel, implementation of the strategy will be started together with all layers of government.
