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In November 2020, the online Week Of Indonesian Netherlands Education And Research (WINNER) kicked off. This was the first time that the plethora of forward-looking sustainable development initiatives in various fields of research and education came together on one platform.

Improving the productivity of smallholder farmers can make a large difference in meeting the ever-growing demand for healthy and nutritious food around the world. In the last four decades, Dutch tropical vegetable seed company East-West Seed (EWS) has provided millions of smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia with high-quality hybrid seeds, improving their productivity and standard of living.

How can we feed a growing world population while lessening the impact on the environment? Mexican-Dutch partnership HortiConnect believes nature itself provides the solutions. HortiConnect combines the power of data and advanced technology to optimise a plant’s natural growing power and resilience.

Human rights are the cornerstone of human dignity, freedom and development, and form the basis for open and free societies all over the world. The Netherlands supports human rights defenders and organisations, and awards one of them each year with the Human Rights Tulip award. This year the award went to Armenian LGBTI activist Lilit Martirosyan.

As food waste accounts for around one third of all food produced for human consumption globally, reducing food loss can contribute significantly to reaching food security. In Ethiopia and Djibouti, Flying Swans is creating a cool logistics network together with local partners.

In november 2020, the World Press Freedom Conference (WPFC) Digital Edition took place in The Hague. Since 2012, a Youth Newsroom has been a part of the conference. As WPFC 2020 co-host, the Netherlands provided Youth Newsroom participants with perparatory coaching for the first time.

The first victim of war is truth is an old adage. The same can also be said of peace. Gathering independent and unbiased information on the situation on the ground following war and unrest is difficult. Dutch NGO Pax for Peace has developed a digital solution to this dilemma.

Climate change is driving the need for many port cities to adapt. Rising sea levels, storm surges and other extreme weather events mean cities have to create strategies to become resilient to the impact of too much water. Rotterdam, as the busiest and smartest port in Europe, has managed to become a thriving logistics hub alongside a dynamic city.

Contaminated potatoes, expensive pesticides and low crop yields are all things of the past thanks to Netherlands company, Solynta. Their hybrid breeding technique replaces the common potato-tuber with ‘true seeds’.

The first-ever all-digital CES will kick off on 11 January 2021. More than 90 Dutch tech companies will join the world’s brightest and most forward-thinking innovators to explore how, together, we can harness the power of technology to solve global challenges.