South Holland's diversity is both its strength and its Achilles' heel, says Jean-Christophe Spapens of the Province of South Holland. Smartly distributing investments requires sustainable collaboration between government, businesses, and knowledge institutions. And with residents, says innovation policy professor Sarah Giest. By Margriet van der Zee
What are the challenges for administrators to future-proof the engine of the South Holland economy?
Sarah Giest: "When it comes to managing economic programs in the province, there are many different initiatives. All these smaller programs have their own funding or subsidy pot. At the same time, you have a government that works in administrative silos—municipalities, provincial governments, and ministries—that have all sorts of fragmented programs. There's a lack of genuine connections and collaborations."
Jean-Christophe Spapens: "Indeed. We're a large province, so it's not surprising that there are so many programs and initiatives." But that requires strong connections. One program that works is the South Holland Human Capital Agenda. With its sub-agreements, it aligns well with sectoral and regional practices and parties that have the energy for action. At the same time, we're working on shared bottlenecks and sharing knowledge. The Human Capital Agenda is part of the South Holland Growth Agenda. This is an integrated investment strategy focused on the economy, energy, housing, and human capital. The transition of the South Holland economy requires a broad approach and the commitment of numerous parties. You have to find the common thread to strengthen each other.
This gives you more power to do something from the bottom up.'
How can you find and follow that common thread?
Spapens: "You have to realize that companies must make the lion's share of the investments. Companies account for 64 percent of climate-related investments. Of the desired 3 percent in R&D expenditure, the private sector should provide 2 percentage points, while 1 percentage point comes from the government, education, and knowledge institutions. That amounts to tens of billions." The triple-helix collaboration, a partnership between knowledge institutions, businesses, and government, is therefore not a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. That's the only way to achieve sustainable economic solutions, with an approach that leverages the strengths of all these parties.
Giest: "I'd like to broaden it even further, to a quadruple helix, in which civil society—the residents—also plays a role. I see a role here not only for LDE as a collaborative partner, but also for Living Labs, where everyone works together on solutions. This gives you more power to do something from the bottom up. Utilizing the knowledge of others through deep tech and startups. Working together and creating something new. Administratively, it's often complicated to change structures from within the government, so it's good to seek those connections and pool knowledge."
Are there any interesting examples of integrated collaboration?
Giest: ‘The Green Village of TU Delft and Living Lab Scheveningen of the The Hague municipality. Both labs address the need in South Holland to simultaneously address major transitions – energy, climate adaptation, digitalization – and the complex legacy economy of port industry, tourism, and outdated housing stock. They connect government, knowledge, businesses, and citizens in concrete test and business environments, providing examples of how bottom-up innovations can be scaled up into regional policy and market opportunities.'
Spapens: "We desperately need the national government for this scaling up. We're seeing the joint efforts of the national government and the region grow on various issues. Think of the eight regional deals in South Holland, with which we're working to achieve broad prosperity in vulnerable areas. Or the National Maritime Sector Management Office, where we collaborate on measures and leading projects from the joint agenda. But also the collaboration that is now blossoming around defense.
"South Holland's diversity is both our strength and our Achilles' heel. As regional partners, we're working hard to join forces with the national government. We often need multiple ministries for solutions." That's why it's a shame that South Holland doesn't have a broad, integrated, overarching national program that all departments are committed to. I sometimes look with envy at Groningen or Eindhoven, where that's the case. We see collaboration across different regions on shared themes. I see the same thing with Leiden-Delft-Erasmus: the universities are collaborating much more. Perhaps we can learn something from that.
Wat heb je op bestuurlijk niveau nodig om samen op te trekken?
Giest: "We're facing challenges that may not be apparent to everyone, but that are important to mention: such as the housing market, the education system and schools, immigration policy, and, more generally, the quality of life. There's also a mismatch between talent and the labor market. By that, I mean the lack of structures to retain talent in the province, for example, through startups. The government needs to consider what's needed to retain talent. Where will I live? Can I afford a house? Where will my child go to school?
When scaling up this collaboration, we really do need the government'
"These are fundamental questions that, at first glance, don't seem to be related to building the high-tech sector, but are important for retaining talent in the region. These social challenges determine the success of economic policy: if young talent leaves, it undermines the innovative power and willingness to invest of companies in South Holland."
What are the pitfalls in achieving this goal?
Giest: "Short-term and long-term policies. Short-term goals mean: money is needed now, you set up a program, and get started. But what's needed is long-term planning. Without that, you'll see increased competition between cities and regions, and it'll be every man for himself instead of working together." Uncertainty from the national government is disastrous. High-tech innovations and investments require planning certainty, otherwise companies will leave the province.
When young talent leaves due to housing shortages, this undermines the innovative power of companies.'
Spapens: ‘At the outset of the Groeiagenda (growth agenda), everyone certainly had long-term planning in mind. Now you see how vulnerable that is when the national government shifts its focus to the short term. Due to uncertainty and bottlenecks like nitrogen emissions and grid congestion, investments are postponed, cancelled, or realized outside the Netherlands. We then lack the tools to provide that certainty and continuity. But we also need to take stock of ourselves. If we're not careful, each sub-region will soon have its own vision and strategy.'
So, we're looking for a unifying force. What will our central theme be?
Spapens: "The realization of a high-tech economy that delivers more added value and contributes to strategic autonomy. It may be difficult to give a suitable answer to what a future-proof economy looks like. We have to discover that together. South Holland is strong in almost all key technologies." We are now working together to ensure that more startups grow into scale-ups, and that, in turn, more "champions" emerge from them. If there's one place where you can work on a smart use of critical raw materials, it's here in South Holland. That strength exists, as do the opportunities. The main question is how we capitalize on those opportunities."
How does a central theme like high-tech innovation truly take shape?
Giest: "A mix of visibility, certainty, and a goal that everyone can participate in and support is, in my opinion, a solution. This requires a clear long-term vision from the province, including an investment agenda that links high-tech development to social needs like affordable housing and education."
Spapens: "I agree. The South Holland Growth Agenda offers that long-term focus. The ongoing challenge is to maintain this and translate it into action. I don't believe in a big bang, but I do think that as a province, we need to demonstrate what we're doing. I'm proud of what we have achieved with projects. For example, investing in the Oude Lijn (Old Line) to connect all knowledge hubs." But also recently, with our efforts to tackle the nitrogen problem: SANE. That doesn't solve everything. We desperately need the national government for this. But we are taking a first step! Let's ensure that in uncertain times, it doesn't become everyone for themselves again. We have to do this work together.
Prof. Dr. Sarah Giest is a professor of policy, innovation, and sustainability at the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University. She researches data-driven working in government, as well as social sustainability within neighborhoods.
Drs. Jean-Christophe Spapens is manager of external partnerships and financing at the Province of South Holland. Central to his portfolio are national-regional collaborations and financing issues. He leads the Groeiagenda Zuid-Holland (growth agenda South-Holland).
This article is from the new Leiden-Delft-Erasmus white paper 'The Economy of South Holland: Earning - Distributing - Changing'.