Koninklijke Metaalunie positive about sustainability investments in response to Budget Day

Many new policies and related spending are unfortunately left to a new cabinet. "Politicians must therefore now really speed up the formation process. A new cabinet must in any case work on accelerating the climate plans, on a firmer innovation policy for SMEs and on a greater influx of technical professionals," said Fried Kaanen, chairman of Metaalunie.

"We are positive about the announced investments in climate and sustainability. SME manufacturing companies can contribute like no other to the realisation of the infrastructure needed to switch from a fossil to a renewable society. The sector itself consumes relatively little energy," said Kaanen. Nevertheless, in order to make its own operations more sustainable as well, improved access to incentive schemes for SMEs is necessary. Much of the available funds should also be used to accelerate the achievement of the objectives of the circular manufacturing industry implementation programme. "After all, circular entrepreneurship puts leverage on displacing greenhouse gases. However, Metaalunie is counting on SMEs no longer being seen as the main funder of the energy transition. Substantial reductions in the Storage of Sustainable Energy (ODE) are necessary," the Metaalunie president believes.

Innovation policy has been very fragmented in recent years. Clear strategic lines were missing, innovation programmes were hard to reach for SMEs and the focus was (too) much on development of products and technologies and too little on production innovation for and digitisation of SMEs. Kaanen: "We therefore expect from a new cabinet a coherent innovation policy, with a separate action programme for SMEs. This should explicitly focus on production innovation and digitalisation and on maintaining and expanding production in the Netherlands. In addition, link innovation policy much more to the societal challenges, such as themes like care, climate, circularity and housing shortage, among others."

To meet the challenges of innovation (stimulation) and the climate transition, more well-trained technical staff is urgently needed, according to Kaanen. According to him, the demand for (technical) skilled workers at SME manufacturing companies is greater than ever. Metaalunie therefore calls on politicians to really work on increasing the intake of engineering students and a balanced labour market. "An investment of at least €300 million per year must be made for 'Strong Technical Education' throughout the education chain. This investment will allow schools, teachers and learning companies to do their best work. Study and tuition fees for technical courses must come down to make them extra attractive to pupils and students," he believes.