Why?
Analytical science plays a crucial role in economic and societal dynamics in the Netherlands. Positioned between fundamental sciences and final application, analytical science is at the heart of innovation. By uniting technology and application under a shared focus, innovation in analytical science will greatly benefit the topsectors* and the societal challenges or mission themes** as defined by the Dutch government.
Analytical science:
- Enables system understanding through measurement of a variety of factors
- Generates insight in structure-property relationships for materials and biological entities
- Facilitates real-time in-situ measurement
Thus, it:
- Provides the technological basis for innovations in existing application areas;
- Helps to address important societal challenges, such as security, (waste) water management, food safety, health, energy transition and circularity by providing fit-for-purpose measurement technologies.
- Creates new fields of innovation by connecting various application areas;
- Creates inherent economic value through research, instrument development and commercial analytical services.
Improvements in the chemical, spatial and temporal resolution of analytical instruments, combined with miniaturization of those instruments and advanced data processing, will make analytical science even more socially and economically relevant.
Community formation, bringing together analytical scientists and practitioners within and between disparate fields allows them to:
- share experiences, techniques and instruments;
- foster cross-fertilization between disciplines and application areas;
- combine analytical challenges and define roadmaps for innovation in the science;
- define the human capital agenda for the field and organize additional education.
* Topsectors: life sciences, high-tech materials and systems, agro-food, water, energy, horticulture, chemistry, creative industry and logistics.
** Mission themes: ‘Energy transition & Sustainability’, ‘Agriculture, Water & Food’, ‘Health & Healthcare’, ‘Security’ and ‘Key Enabling Technologies’.