ABSTRACT
The Dutch National Research Agenda consolidates a number of themes and routes that intend to help focus the scientific community on a number of core themes in the coming years. This implies that the research priorities are set with the objective of focusing and channelling research effort on what are perceived to be important scientific questions, societal challenges, and economic opportunities. The Dutch National Research Agenda aims to foster a better collaboration across different institutes and scientific disciplines and to increase the likelihood to stay at the research frontier by concentrating world-class research on a limited number of themes. An important question is whether or not setting such priorities makes sense to achieve the goals of scientific excellence, societal impact, and economic development. This essay discusses, from an economic point of view, the possible effects of such an agenda for science, society, and the economy. We first review the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of routing research effort. Next, we describe a number of trends and their implications. Finally, we address the implementation of a research agenda, with specific attention to the appropriate level of coordination and to its organisation.
