The UK and the Netherlands have improved their science and know-how ties with an Innovation Partnership. The Partnership will speed up progress in synthetic intelligence (AI), quantum applied sciences, and semiconductors
The settlement, signed in London on 11 November 2025, brings collectively two international locations already recognised for their sturdy analysis ecosystems and thriving high-tech industries.
Improving collaboration on cutting-edge know-how
The Innovation Partnership outlines a shared ambition to deepen cooperation in areas that form the international financial system. Both governments view AI, quantum computing, and superior chips as essential to driving financial progress, enhancing public companies, and facilitating the transition to cleaner, extra environment friendly applied sciences.
The Innovation Partnership will focus on building joint research programmes, supporting start-ups and innovators, and creating alternatives for universities and companies to collaborate. It additionally aligns with every nation’s nationwide technique for rising applied sciences and builds on present worldwide hyperlinks through main analysis networks.
A pure partnership in science and business
The UK and the Netherlands are already carefully related through tasks funded by Horizon Europe, CERN, and different worldwide initiatives. Both nations convey complementary strengths to the desk.
The UK’s rising semiconductor clusters in South Wales, Scotland, and different areas are identified for experience in chip design and compound semiconductors, key applied sciences for superior computing and communications. The Netherlands, in the meantime, is residence to ASML, one in all the world’s most important gamers in semiconductor manufacturing tools. Together, they type a robust partnership that may assist strengthen Europe’s wider know-how provide chain.
In the quantum sector, each international locations are already working collectively through a £1.2 million joint analysis and improvement scheme. Their mixed efforts are anticipated to speed up breakthroughs in next-generation computing methods, supplies science, and safe communications.
The subsequent wave of AI and computing
In addition to conventional computing, each nations are investing in new types of AI that mimic the human mind’s workings. These so-called “neuromorphic” applied sciences intention to make future AI methods sooner, extra environment friendly, and extra sustainable.
The Innovation Partnership will encourage collaboration between analysis establishments and companies to develop purposes for these applied sciences in sectors equivalent to clear power, medication, and superior manufacturing.
The settlement builds on an extended document of collaboration between British and Dutch researchers. Through Horizon Europe, the UK photo voltaic power firm Oxford PV and the Dutch Marine Energy Centre are testing a £6 million floating photo voltaic farm in the North Sea. Both international locations are additionally lively members in main scientific programmes equivalent to the European Space Agency, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, and CERN.
They are additionally companions in PIXEurope. The consortium consists of the University of Cambridge, the University of Southampton, TU Delft, the University of Twente, and TNO, highlighting the depth of present cross-border cooperation.
With the Innovation Partnership, the UK and the Netherlands intention to remodel these collaborations right into a broader platform for financial progress and technological management.