The formation process has concluded, and the future of the Netherlands’ Digitalisation Strategy (NDS) is now defined. The programme will move forward under the same name, with prioritisation steering its upcoming direction.
In February, doubts persisted about the NDS’s future under the new cabinet. However, the State Secretaries for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK) and for the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) have agreed to proceed with the NDS, retaining the same name.
The State Secretary for Digital Economy and Sovereignty (EZK) will oversee 5 of the 6 priorities in the NDS. Priority 4, Citizens and entrepreneurs first, will remain under the responsibility of the State Secretary for BZK.
No extra funding
The cabinet has not allocated extra resources. As a result, the NDS will move forward using current budgets and the support from participating organisations. Efforts to find additional funding and create synergies will persist, including merging activities, such as engaging internal service providers more actively, and exploring opportunities for collaboration with the Ministry of Defence.
Accelerators
By the end of December 2025, all NDS acceleration teams submitted brief plans. Some ‘accelerators’ have started implementing them since December, while others are still finalising their action plans. These descriptions, called 2-pagers, have been coordinated and refined with different government bodies over the past few months.
Setting priorities
Since additional funding is necessary to achieve the desired acceleration and impact everywhere, it is crucial to establish priorities within the plans: identifying what is most important, urgent, and achievable with existing resources. All participating governments have coordinated these priorities with their stakeholders. They must decide which plans to pursue, where to focus more narrowly, and which plans to discontinue or not initiate.
Achieving results together
During an NDS event on 31 March, the acceleration teams shared their proposals for prioritisation and related roadmaps with each other and with representatives of the involved governments. The proposals clearly illustrated how priorities and interventions are interconnected and what conditions are necessary for mutual success.
According to NDS Programme Director Erik Jan Boon, the day itself was marked by enthusiasm, energy, and a shared commitment to jointly move forward with the NDS. In a plenary session, participants expressed their collective ambition to achieve results. Boon summed up the day by saying: “We all realise that with the NDS, we have also initiated a movement towards 1 government and towards more collaboration and less non-commitment and fragmentation.”
Foundation for further development
On 1 April 2026, the 2-pagers were approved during the Programme Management Consultation as the foundation for further development. The proposed priorities were also confirmed. In the upcoming months, these will be discussed at the political-administrative level.
