The Netherlands' Digitalisation Strategy

The Netherlands’ Digitalisation Strategy (NDS) provides government organisations with their first shared roadmap for building a digital government. Digitalisation is a vital tool for addressing the country’s most significant societal challenges.

Joint efforts

Digitalisation is not an end in itself but a necessary condition for the government to perform its tasks reliably, efficiently, and responsibly, as 1. This is achieved in collaboration with all tiers of government, public service providers, knowledge institutions, and market parties. It is for parliament and the media, and for citizens and entrepreneurs who are entitled to safe, accessible, and reliable digital services. The NDS stands for a digital government that works for the Netherlands and a strong digital foundation for dependable service delivery and better accessibility for citizens, businesses, and professionals.

Beyond non-commitment

The growing complexity of societal issues and dependence on technology demand clear choices and joint governance. Therefore, the NDS moves beyond non-commitment: it calls for standardisation where necessary, pooling investments and capacity, and actively steering implementation and scaling. This strengthens digital autonomy and ensures that citizens, entrepreneurs, and civil servants can rely on a government that delivers. With attention to public values, the NDS works towards trustworthy digitalisation, with a focus on legal protection and democratic oversight of implementation and execution.

NDS structure

The NDS has defined 6 priorities and 3 interventions. The priorities are the core digitalisation topics, essentially sub-programmes under the NDS umbrella:

1. Cloud
2. Data
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
4. Prioritising citizens and entrepreneurs
5. Digital Resilience & Digital Autonomy
6. Digital Proficiency

The interventions target issues that hinder the NDS’s success. The focus is on standards and building blocks, IT sourcing and procurement power, and legislation.

Each priority and intervention has several accelerators that drive results.