Turner Proud of Approval of the Two Applications to the National Growth Fund

The National LLO Catalyst and the NL Digitalization Initiative are among the 37 proposals submitted by various ministries during the second round. Both proposals fall under the Knowledge Development pillar. The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science requested a total of €392 million for the LLO Catalyst and €560 million for the NL Digitalization Initiative. Both amounts were granted, in part subject to conditions. The management consulting firm Turner supported the umbrella organizations Universities of the Netherlands, the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, and the MBO Council in the preparation of both applications. This has resulted in two ambitious plans and Execution Coalitions that will bring these ambitions to fruition.

The goal of the LLO Catalyst is to better prepare the Netherlands for the major transitions ahead by better aligning Education with the labor market. Using the LLO Radar, the LLO Catalyst provides insight into the skills needed in the labor market of the future by driving, accelerating, and coordinating the development of learning opportunities in a demand-driven manner. This is achieved through initiatives such as co-creation labs, regional transition agreements, and professional development activities. The LLO Catalyst also contributes to improving the learning culture in the business community and among professionals by providing targeted advice to employers and employees and by conducting ACTIVATION activities for the workforce.

While drafting this proposal under significant time pressure, Turner played a crucial role in mobilizing all universities, colleges, and vocational education institutions to work together with the business community to give a major boost to lifelong learning. In total, more than a hundred professionals from education, the business community, civil society, and the government contributed to this initiative.

The goal of the Digitalization Initiative NL is to help the Netherlands develop world-class education. By leveraging all the possibilities of digitalization, all learners can be equipped to thrive in a rapidly and continuously changing labor market and society. The ambition is to improve the quality of education, increase its adaptability, and enhance the functional and critical digital skills of learners and teachers. To achieve this, a national ICT infrastructure for Education is being established; we are creating a single repository for knowledge; teachers and staff are being supported by Teaching & Learning Centers; and transformation hubs for public-private partnerships on relevant topics are being established.

Working closely with representatives from all 113 vocational education institutions, colleges, and universities, we have succeeded in developing a proposal that will enable the creation of a standardized, secure, and reliable sector-wide ICT infrastructure and a sector-wide knowledge infrastructure.

Annelieke van Schie, program manager and member of the Digitaliseringsimpuls NL team: “By approving these two proposals, the education sector can take a very important and significant step forward. The willingness to collaborate is the key to realizing this ambitious goal. It was wonderful to be able to contribute to that.”

Jeroen Visscher, a Turner partner involved in both applications: “It’s unique that all universities, universities of applied sciences, and vocational education institutions have collectively committed to these applications. We are therefore very proud that both applications were approved. The societal impact on aligning Education with the labor market is enormous. The ambition was high, the complexity great, but we succeeded!”

With the approval of the applications, a new phase begins: after all, the focus is now on implementation. Turner is eager to contribute to this as well.

About Turner

Turner Strategy = Execution is a management consulting firm specializing in Strategy Execution. We work with organizations to implement new strategies—that’s what we deliver. We tackle the critical issues facing our clients—the ones that truly matter in the sectors where we operate. In 2020 and 2021, Turner was named the best strategy firm in the MT1000, an annual survey of clients of business service providers. It also achieved the highest customer satisfaction rating of all consulting firms.

Want to know more?

Jeroen Visscher is more than happy to explain the funding decisions for these applications and the research. Please contact Wendelina Fieret at wfieret@turner.nl or +31 641 007 019.