On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a motion by D66 and PRO on “valorization.” This is a statutory responsibility of universities of applied sciences and research universities: they are expected to transfer their knowledge to society so that, among other things, businesses can make use of it.

However, the motion states that there is no “uniform and comparable national picture of the results” of this valorization. Not only D66 and PRO believe this needs to change, but also governing parties CDA and VVD, as well as a sizeable group of opposition parties from across the political spectrum.

The government should enter into discussions with the knowledge institutions on the matter. This should lead to a publicly accessible set of “key indicators” for valorization, such as the number of companies established by knowledge institutions (spin-offs) and how much money they bring in through their patents.

Feasible

Universities association UNL welcomes the proposal. “We certainly believe this is feasible,” says spokesperson Ruben Puylaert. “The universities are already working on it. Discussions with the ministry are already underway, and increasingly more data on valorization are becoming available.”

This is not the first attempt to map out valorization. As early as 2012, universities of applied sciences and research universities promised to develop a set of indicators, but this did not result in a clear national overview.

This spring, a report was published on the societal relevance of research. Its conclusion was that this relevance could not really be captured in figures. It remains to be seen how the institutions will approach economic valorization.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.