Innovation Impact Challenge Police: Looking Back and Looking Forward

On Monday, September 22, an informational meeting took place in Utrecht for the Innovation Impact Challenge: IX for the Dutch Police. With over 75 attendees from business, knowledge institutions, and the creative sector, the event was well-attended—though it ended abruptly but memorably. A power outage forced the more than 76 interested attendees, along with everyone else in the building, to evacuate, after which networking continued informally on the lawn.

The afternoon was opened by Bobby Steijns (RVO), who welcomed the participants. Heleen Rouw (CIIIC) then outlined the initiative and the broader CIIIC program, which, with funding from the National Growth Fund, will strengthen the Dutch IX sector in the coming years. It was explained how the Innovation Impact Challenges fit into this framework: as targeted instruments to develop innovative applications in collaboration with public parties.

On behalf of the police, Corine Laman (project manager XR) presented the two substantive focus areas of this call:

• Agile and adaptive learning and preparation – IX solutions that allow police officers to train and practice faster, more effectively, and more flexibly.
• Police operations in new realities – IX solutions that support and optimize operational work in real-time.

Halfway through her presentation, however, the meeting was disrupted by a power outage in the building and the immediate area. For safety reasons, it was decided to evacuate, meaning the official program could not be resumed. The unexpected turn of events did not prevent the attendees from continuing to talk and network animatedly on a nearby lawn.

Online Q&A session and pitches

To give all interested parties the opportunity to ask questions and get more clarification, RVO and the Dutch Police are jointly organizing an online Q&A session on Wednesday, October 1, from 13:00–14:30 via Microsoft Teams.

The program:

• 13:00 – 13:05 | Explanation of the Innovation Impact Challenge + relevant data
• 13:05 – 14:00 | Time for questions (if necessary, answered later via the Information Note)
• 14:00 – 14:30 | Short pitches (max. 90 seconds) for collaboration on the IIC

Participants can also register to give a pitch or submit a textual pitch. These pitches will be shared to stimulate collaboration between parties.

Would you like to participate in this online meeting? Register here.

Important dates and documents

• Deadline Expression of Interest (EoI): Monday, October 13, 2025, 12:00 PM. Submit via this form. View the questions from the form (PDF) here
• The call text and information note can be found on the RVO information page about this call.

With the Innovation Impact Challenge for the Dutch Police, creators, researchers, and companies are invited to develop innovative IX solutions that contribute to a flexible, future-proof police organization.