Strategische Agenda 2022-2025

28 the overall picture has to be taken into consideration in order to produce solutions. That is our strength. The knowledge we acquire for various government authorities is brought together in our knowledge base. In turn, that knowledge base is available to all government authorities. In the coming strategy period, we will be strengthening a number of working areas for the Dutch government. They include task-oriented work, for example droughts or land subsidence. And area-oriented work, such as the South­ western Delta, North Sea and major rivers. In addition to strengthening the relationship with the Dutch government, we will further strengthen alliances and the orchestration of research with fellow research institutes, including the partners in the TO2 federation and with the National Research Institutes. By doing so, we ensure that our knowledge development is complementary to that of our partners. Examples are research in the field of climate adaptation (with KNMI), the energy transition (with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, TNO), and in the field of spatial planning and the relationship with water and the subsurface knowledge, for example factors such as land subsidence and the future of peat areas (with Wageningen Research). In the time to come, we will also endeavour to achieve optimal coordination and collaboration with regional knowledge clusters and institutions of higher education. We work with SMEs and start-ups to apply our knowledge. SMEs already make extensive use of our knowledge and software, our geo-software being one example. We recently established aa desk for this purpose specifically for SMEs and start-ups so that they can turn to us with their knowledge and innovation questions. During this strategy period, we will look at how this works and whether any adjustments are needed. SMEs and start-ups can also make use of the ‘Technology Surgery’ (a one-day consultation) free of charge and Deltares is providing increased access to the experimental research facilities (using SME vouchers) for the testing and validation trials of SMEs and start-ups. In this way, Deltares aims to make its knowledge and expertise more accessible to these entrepreneurs. Deltares, with the other TO2 institutes, is also strengthening the relationship with the organisations representing the different branches of business and start- up environments in order to reach more SMEs and start- ups. Chapter 3 Strategic directions: our priorities Figure 3.3 Alliances with our partners