Former strategic themes
With our research we forge strong links between fundamental knowledge on the one hand and scientific and scalable practical knowledge on the other, both within and across scientific fields. Investment themes help us accelerate the development of knowledge and innovation within our domain.
Every four years, new strategic themes are selected to dovetail with the Strategic Plan.
Strategic themes 2015 - 2018
Resource Use Efficiency
A more intensive use of natural resources places increasing pressure on biological systems and on production and consumption systems in agriculture. Due to increasing global urbanisation, the distribution of the flow of energy, materials and waste is shifting on a large scale, and the quality of ecosystems (for example soil and water) is under pressure. The flow of nutrients, residue and waste is becoming concentrated in prosperous, densely populated urban areas, while elsewhere the soil is becoming depleted.
Resilience
Resilience is an important property not only of natural ecosystems, agro-ecosystems, and economic and social systems, but also of biological systems such as humans, animals, plants and microbes. The resilience of a system determines its response and adaptation to sudden, non-linear changes such as rapid technological progress, climate change and socio-economic changes. Likewise, the degree to which a system can adapt is also determined by its resilience. The reactions in the systems are complex and determined by interaction with other systems and reactions between different scales.
Metropolitan Solutions
By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. As a result, cities will to an increasing degree face issues concerning the sustainability and quality of life. This concerns aspects such as food security, mobility and logistics, the availability of water, dealing with raw materials and waste, health and well-being. The metropolitan city is simultaneously an incubator for creative solutions, a precursor of social and technological innovations in sustainability, an important player on the world stage and a specific social and ecological system. In this way, the metropolitan city also serves as a ‘living lab’ to design, test and disseminate solutions to these problems.
Synthetic Biology
Acquired knowledge on genetic material as a building block for life has increased drastically. We can use this knowledge to design new biological systems. This offers a world of possibility for improving the quality of life. However, the application of synthetic biology is still in its infancy. At present, work is taking place only with biomolecules and single-cell organisms, such as bacteria and yeasts.