Recent geopolitical shifts are reshaping the innovation and sustainability agendas of the European Union and its member states. Growing risks in the supply of critical raw materials and digital services have exposed new vulnerabilities for European economies and knowledge systems. At the same time, these challenges create opportunities to accelerate innovation in areas such as the circular economy, the energy transition, cleaner data centres, and the development of substitutes for scarce materials or materials imported from unreliable suppliers.

This project aims to develop an integrated data infrastructure that connects existing expertise and datasets within the Faculty of Geosciences. It brings together data on raw material stocks, mining techniques, and extraction costs; material flows and emissions in cross-border production chains; and the knowledge positions of countries and regions based on patent and publication data.

By linking these data sources, the project will enable the Faculty to address new research and policy questions on critical dependencies, innovation, sustainability, and strategic autonomy. These include identifying the most important dependencies for the Dutch and European economy and knowledge system, assessing whether countries and regions are adapting their production and innovation strategies, examining where circular innovations can reduce strategic dependencies, and identifying which knowledge and technology domains should be strengthened in the Netherlands and Europe.

The project will contribute to a better understanding of how geopolitical change affects science, technology, and innovation, and how Europe can respond by developing more sustainable, competitive, and resilient innovation pathways.

• prof. dr. Koen Frenken
• dr. O.Y. (Oscar) Romero Goyeneche

ST4TE project aims to provide a comprehensive view of the drivers of the Twin Transition (TT), the inequalities that emerge or are widened by the TT, and a set of policies to build greener, more equal and more productive societies. 

We live in a world of transitions. The transition to green forms of production and consumption and the digital transformation are processes that are expected to generate long-term environmental benefits and draw new opportunities for economic growth. A green and digital divide is, however, emerging, not only slowing down progress overall, but also widening the gap between individuals, regions, and social groups, leading to increased inequality in the long run. The growing divide between richer and poorer regions is expected to widen, posing challenges for regional cohesion in Europe. The benefits and costs of these two transitions are also likely to be unevenly distributed across households and vulnerable groups. If green and digital policies fail to address existing asymmetries related to access and distribution of resource, structural inequalities will be replicated and even widened, creating further injustice. Despite the growing interest and its position at the top of the European political agenda, the twin transition (TT) is still an evolving concept running over two parallel roadmaps/agendas rather than one cohesive policy framework. The way in which these two transitions are managed is still unclear, while their implementation will vary across territories depending on many contextual factors such as their industrial structure, the level of populations’ skills and international connectivity/collaboration.

• dr. O.Y. (Oscar) Romero Goyeneche