To achieve sustainability by 2050 while maintaining a healthy economy, breakthroughs are needed. Therefore, AWTI advises the Dutch government to aim for breakthrough innovations and adjust its innovation policy accordingly. This should be done by investing structurally and long-term, while taking the importance of strategic autonomy into account as well as the relevance of the non-technological aspects of energy innovation. There is great urgency around the energy transition. The EU has set itself a target of being fully climate-neutral by 2050. The challenge facing the Netherlands is even bigger, partly because it has a fairly energy-intensive economy and because it possesses relatively few sustainable energy resources.

Achieving that transformation will require a great deal of innovation: technological, institutional and social. While incremental innovations are a useful part of this process, genuine breakthroughs will also be needed on several fronts in order to realise the transformation to a sustainable system in 2050. These breakthroughs may be driven by technological developments, but may also stem from other developments, such as new rules, organisational structures or behavioural changes. How can the Dutch government provide optimum support for the necessary energy innovations?

Advice: aim for breakthroughs needed for the energy transition

AWTI advises the Dutch government and parliament to focus the energy innovation policy on breakthrough innovations that will help achieve the transformation to a sustainable Netherlands in 2050 by making clear choices, by making the policy more suitable for breakthroughs and by evaluating the policy in the context of its contribution to the envisaged transformation. This needs to be based on a broad vision for a sustainable economy, society and energy supply in 2050. That broad vision is a necessary basis for the policy.

Beeld: © AWTI

Figure for recommendation 1: Instil direction and focus in the energy innovation policy by selecting a limited number of priorities based on an assessment framework for which mission-driven innovation programmes are set up.

AWTI calls for the specific policy for energy innovation to focus as a priority on promoting breakthrough innovations. These breakthroughs are essential for a successful energy transition. However, the many obstacles they encounter, such as the remoteness from the market, the complexity of achieving system breakthroughs and the higher risks, mean they are very difficult to get off the ground. Specific support from government policy is essential to achieve these necessary breakthroughs.

AWTI makes three recommendations for translating this advice into practice:

  1. Instil direction and focus in the energy innovation policy.
  2. Make the policy suitable for breakthrough innovations.
  3. Include the context in evaluations and ensure that evaluations are geared to learning for system change.

The full advisory report elaborates the main advice and more specific recommendations and translates them into more concrete actions. The advisory report ‘Sustainable breakthroughs’ was presented to the minister of Climate and Green Growth, Sophie Hermans, on December 18, 2025.