Strategy

Strategy

The Geological Survey of the Netherlands (GDN) is the foremost independent knowledge and research centre of the Dutch subsurface. We use our applied knowledge to provide answers to questions and developments in society. We supply the data, information, and knowledge that enable public authorities and the business community to make sustainable daily use of the subsurface. And we conduct research on current needs and desires or those which may only become tangible in a few years’ time.

Social developments as a driving force

The social importance of GDN’s expertise has become more widely known in recent years due to developments such as the energy transition, soil subsidence, and increasing drought. Partly due to the Dutch Key Register of the Subsurface (BRO), an increasing number of local public authorities and businesses are actively using subsurface information, which means we’re dealing with stakeholder groups that are becoming ever-more diverse. We are motivated to support developments in society through reliable geodata and to be visible as an independent partner for geological knowledge of the Netherlands.

Four focus areas

We have broad expertise of the geology of the Netherlands and of technologies that enable the sustainable use of the subsurface and the raw materials present in it. We’re contributing to our country’s major current issues through our research. As such, three of our focus areas are the energy transition, a safe and liveable delta, and the effects of mining. Our fourth focus area, the digital subsurface, helps us to remain ahead of the curve in terms of unlocking our knowledge and information. GDN aspires to be the most modern geological service in the world. The blue icons below will take you directly to the pages of our focus areas.

Energy transition

Safe and liveable delta

Effects of mining

Digital subsurface

Intensive collaboration

We work closely with the Netherlands’ public authorities, industry, and knowledge institutions to enable the sustainable use of the Dutch subsurface and address societal challenges. We also support companies outside the Netherlands by developing new knowledge and technologies. We’re also in close contact with other national geological services abroad. We exchange knowledge with them and are actively involved in the development and implementation of European subsurface policy. 

Prepared for the future

GDN’s work has a long-term impact. Decisions we make today about the development of our information portfolio will continue to have an effect at least ten years from now. Thus, we’re already preparing ourselves for the developments and challenges of the coming decades. We do so by calculating scenarios for wide-ranging policy choices (including, for example, how much and what kind of energy can be stored underground). But also by already considering today what data and models will be needed to make the large-scale storage of energy in the subsurface feasible in the coming decades. This includes finding, commissioning, and monitoring suitable locations.

Would you like to know more about our strategy?

Luuk van Hees, EMT’s Strategy Manager, can tell you more. Send an email via the blue ‘mail directly’ button below.