The previous newsletter contained an interview with Els Rutten, our policy officer at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. In this newsletter, we interview Bas Knuttel, our senior policy officer at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
Good afternoon Bas, thank you for introducing yourself today. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am 51 and have been working as a freelancer for the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment since 2001. I ended up there after studying in Delft (Civil Engineering, utility construction) and a short period at a construction engineering firm. There were various reasons for my transfer: I wanted to broaden my horizons and, if possible, make the environment in which we live a little more beautiful. I soon realised that this was a very good choice for me. Although I no longer worked in technology myself, I had the opportunity to work a lot with engineers, scientists and companies outside the ministry. This role at the interface between technology and society was also what my professor from Delft had in mind when he hired me at his company after my studies, but now I was sitting on the other side of the table.
As a senior policy officer at IenW, you have a diverse range of tasks. Could you tell us more about that? How does the SDN fit in?
I once started in the agriculture department, gaseous emissions. As a self-employed person, I then also did some crop protection work, and now, in addition to the SDN, I work with the team that deals with substances and pesticides. The SDN touches on this in various ways. The substances for which policy is made, are themselves made somewhere: the chemical industry. And our goals as set by the Ministry, a safe and clean living environment that is also experienced as such, also tie in nicely with the SDN.
Safety Delta Netherlands was created as a result of the Sustainable Safety 2030 Programme. You were also involved in this. How did you experience the process from DV2030 to SDN?
I was only indirectly involved in DV2030. At the time, I was still working hard to give environmental safety a firm place in the mission-driven top sector policy. But the SDN is benefiting from this now, because through the KIA Social earning capacity (one of the knowledge and innovation agendas of the top sector policy) we have already been able to organise the funding of a project and we are still working on new initiatives for research cooperation. Another topic I was working on, cyber security, is also very important if we want to achieve the SDN goals. In this way, everything fits together nicely.
What gives you energy to work with Safety Delta Netherlands?
The SDN as a programme is very much in line with 'what I want to work for'. I strongly believe in the power of cooperation. And therefore that working to improve that cooperation always pays off. It takes two to tango... And I happen to be an avid tango dancer, so I know it really does. I also believe that the ambition and goals of the SDN are worthwhile. But what really makes me happy and gives me energy is when a project succeeds, and produces results in the long term.
What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in the coming period?
In long-term projects without immediate results, it is often difficult to keep all the necessary stakeholders sufficiently involved. Therefore, I think it is a challenge to find a balance between long-term commitment and short-term success. And to make the results of the programme continuously visible. We are doing our best to achieve this. As far as I'm concerned, structural cooperation on improvement is in itself a win-win situation, because it enables you to achieve more with the same resources. But I would also like to be able to say in 10 years' time, and with pride, that the SDN has made a clear difference in specific problem areas, and preferably continues to do so.
And if we look briefly ahead, what would you like to achieve in the new year with the SDN?
I would then like to see us running a nice pallet of knowledge and innovation projects, spread across the formulated research themes, and more and more professionals experiencing the usefulness of the SDN. In short, that we continue to grow and work in a focused and effective manner. In addition, it would be nice if, by that time, we had already gained a few important insights or products that really make a difference compared to the situation 'without' the SDN.
2 November 2021
