A New Intergovernmental Data Strategy for the Netherlands

Recently, the Dutch Interior Ministry released a new Intergovernmental Data Strategy, that allows the government to more effectively use data to address challenges in society, while at the same time considering the risks of using data.

Dutch society is rapidly becoming an information society. The use of data offers great opportunities to contribute to solving societal challenges. Research shows great potential: an analysis of more than 90 data use cases for the Swedish government estimates the potential value at 6% of the total annual government expenditure. This is seen as social value through faster and better services, more targeted and better informed policy, and better monitoring and accountability options. Some of these benefits go directly to citizens and businesses, and some to the government. The OECD also expects that the use of data is an essential part of the recovery phase after the corona crisis.

The Netherlands is one of the frontrunners in the European Union when it comes to ICT and digitization. The government wants the Netherlands to continue to belong to the top and to make even better use of the opportunities offered by digitization, without losing sight of public values. This 3 data strategy therefore contains proposals to arrive at a value-driven use of data as a direction for the coming years.

In order for the Netherlands to remain a frontrunner, strong efforts in various areas are necessary. The ambition is to responsibly utilize the potential of data in societal challenges, both within and between domains.

Three guiding principles provide direction for the implementation of the Intergovernmental Data Strategy for the Netherlands:

1. Act together to move beyond unstructured experimentation, creating shared conditions for both conducting and scaling experiments
2. Focus on practice to deliver value, learn and grow through doing.
3. Take an investment perspective to see not only the cost of data, but also the value delivered. Make this social value visible to citizens.

You can download the Netherlands Intergovernmental Data Strategy here (in Dutch).