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The Dutch-Flemish Comprehensive Approach to HLT Stimulation and Innovation: STEVIN, HLT Agency and beyond

This paper shows how a research and industry stimulation programme on human language technologies (HLT) for Dutch can be “enhanced” with more specific innovation policy aspects to support the take-up by the HLT industry in the Netherlands and Flanders. Important to note is the distinction between the HLT programme itself (called STEVIN) with its specific related committees and actions and the overall policy instruments (HLT Agency, HLT steering board?) that try to span the entire domain of HLT for Dutch and have a more permanent character. The establishment of a pricing committee and a PR & communication working group is explained as a consequence of adopting the notion of “innovation system” as a theoretical framework. It means that a stronger emphasis is put on improving knowledge transfer and exchange amongst actors in the field. Therefore, the focus at the programme management level is shifting from the projects’ research activities producing results to gathering the results, making them available at a certain cost and advertising them through the appropriate channels to the appropriate potential customers. Our conclusion is that this policy stimulates the transfer from academia to industry though it is too soon for an in-depth assessment of the STEVIN programme and other HLT innovation policy instruments.