Technological Resilience: what are the realistic options now, in the near future and further ahead?

For NAE, STT and KIVI members

“If you don’t count in the tech world, you’re not at the table – and if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” – Peter Wennink

The Netherlands’ technological resilience must be strengthened, as the Netherlands and Europe are rapidly falling behind China and the US in technological terms. Without getting caught up in a rat race to be the technological frontrunner, technological resilience is primarily about maintaining strategic autonomy, reducing undesirable dependencies and being able to make our own choices in areas that are essential to our economy, security and democracy.

Engineering perspectives and systems thinkers

On 22 September, the NAE, in collaboration with the Stichting Toekomstbeeld der Techniek (STT) and KIVI, is organising a Forum on technological resilience. We will be focusing on a number of specific dependencies:

• oil and gas infrastructure
• digital infrastructure
• engineering talent

During the meeting, we will address questions such as: what can we do, from an engineering perspective and through systems thinking, to reduce these dependencies in the short, medium and long term?

Speakers

• Lucia Geuns, Strategic Energy Adviser, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS)
• Hans de Jong, Special Envoy for the talent challenge within the Beethoven Project and Chair of the Supervisory Board of Platform Talent voor Technologie (PTvT)
• Bert Hubert, entrepreneur and software engineer

Moderators: Marissa de Boer (SusPhos) and Tim Houter (Hardt Hyperloop)

Parallel workshops

1. From fossil fuel dependency to system resilience, led by Rudy Dijkstra, Aquaint
2. Digital infrastructure: dependent on a limited number of players, led by Inald Lagendijk, TU Delft
3. Engineering talent: a global competition for scarce expertise, led by Merel Boers, Nicolab

Programme

Confirmed speakers at the forum are:

• Lucia Geuns, strategic energy adviser, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS)
• Hans de Jong, project leader for the Beethoven project and member of the Supervisory Board of Platform Talent for Technology

The full programme will be announced shortly.