HSD's Annual Meeting: Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Forward

On 28 November, HSD partners came together for the HSD Annual Meeting where we reflected on the results of 2024 and presented the annual plan for 2025. The session at the HSD Campus was also an opportunity to network and meet new HSD partners and HSD Campus tenants.

Joris den Bruinen: "We’re looking back at a good year in which the HSD Office team in collaboration with many partners have achieved almost all of our targets and on several items we even overachieved. All in line with our ambitions in the annual plan and as defined in our Strategy 2021-2025. In 2025 the strategy for 2026-2030 will be developed with involvement of our community. We want to maintain course with focus on our topics & access to proposition and create a future vision.”

2024 highlights include:   

• With our partners, we have evoked around €9,2 million in investments. Including a €6.3 million EU grant to address the cybersecurity expertise shortage in Europe, €1,5 million for cyber resilience and AI, and € 1.4 mln for Smart Secure Cities projects. This surpasses our target of €3 million.
  
  
• We are fulfilling a structural sectorial approach to cyber resilience with impact. In 2024 we launched a Cyber Resilience Centre Manufacturing South Holland and the Cyber Resilience Centre Greenport grew to 38 involved organisations and 122 growers are connected through the Royal FloraHolland cyber subscriptions. We are scaling up nationally and have submitted a funding proposal to further support the Dutch horticulture sector. 
  
  
• We are executing the Human Capital Agenda Security. For example, through the European Talent programme, ‘IT Verband Zuid-Holland’ Talent programme for SMEs and the international cybersecurity summer school.
  
  
• Market consultation sessions and round tables were facilitated for FERM, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), Nationale Nederlanden and OM, we provided opportunities for partners to showcase their expertise at amongst others CyberSec and Big Data Expo. We co-organised many knowledge sessions and roundtables and contributed to the Cyber Security Week The Hague.
  
  
• As part of our Smart Secure Cities programme, we continued to fulfill our role as Programme Office for the Impact Coalition Safety & Security. Just as we did for the Security, Peace & Justice working group of the NLAIC.

Annual Plan

During the annual meeting we also discussed the ambitions for 2025. We will continue to facilitate access to knowledge, talent, capital, markets and innovation and executing our programmes in the field of Cybersecurity and resilience, Data & AI/Intel (use of emerging technologies for security, peace & justice) and Smart Secure Societies. We do this with and for our partners, with attention for public values, privacy, ethics and security by design.

In addition, we will pay special attention to the following programmes:

• Executing and expanding the Human Capital Agenda Security. This includes the already awarded multi-year programme of the IT Verband Zuid Holland and European Talent programme.
• Expanding and deepening our cyber resilience initiatives, including CW Greenport and CW Manufacturing South Holland.
• Connecting HSD partners with launching customers and mutual matchmaking.

Network event: End-of-Year Toast

Afterwards the community end-of-year toast took place, giving new HSD partners and HSD Campus tenants a chance to introduce themselves to the community. RAND Europe, Watchmen, Digicorps Lab, Netsmart, Siemens and LiveDrop pitched on stage to make clear how they contribute to our mutual ambition to make our digitising world more secure.

Read the milestones planned for 2025 in our annual plan.