Government to enforce measures for ‘safer’ knowledge transfer

Plans are intended to protect Dutch security, but universities raise concerns about administrative burden

The Dutch government has presented a series of measures to make international research cooperation “safer”—with a full set of proposals from the ministries of education, economic affairs and justice promised for the second quarter of 2021.  

In a letter to the lower house of parliament last week, the government expressed its concern about countries trying to gather knowledge from the Netherlands “in an assertive and sometimes aggressive manner” for their own economic or military advantage. There is also some evidence that such countries might covertly incite researchers to self-censorship, which could affect scientific integrity, the government said.