Towards a Smarter Greenport: Public-Private Partnership to Boost Digital Standardisation and Innovation in the Dutch Horticulture

The horticulture and propagation materials sector has been designated as one of the so-called top sectors in which the Netherlands excels globally and that are a government priority. The top sector approach for further innovation is based on public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which businesses, knowledge institutes and the (national) government are working closely together towards a common vision and action plans (the 'golden triangle'). This paper introduces the Digital Greenport Holland (Dutch: Tuinbouw Digitaal) and its research and innovation programme ‘a Smarter Greenport’. Digital Greenport Holland is the PPP of the horticultural top sector that focuses on digital information management. The business involvement consists of the collaboration between three active industry associations for chain information, i.e. Frug I Com (fruit and vegetables), Floricode (flowers and plants) and EDIbulb (flower bulbs). The activities focus on four main themes: E-standards, E-information-integration, Ebusiness-to-government and E-competence. The programme ‘a Smarter Greenport’ has currently conducted eight projects on these themes