How we work
The Delta Institute is an independent think tank committed to progress in the Netherlands. By working together with politics and government, we contribute to innovation where it is needed most. Below, we explain exactly how we do that.
From idea to implementation
Most think tanks publish a report and consider the work done. We do not. We follow a dossier from idea through implementation: from the House of Representatives and the responsible ministry to the civil servant who ultimately has to build it. We talk to the media without being journalists, to Parliament without being lobbyists and to the civil service without being consultants. Depending on what a dossier needs, we conduct research, campaign, build political support and help public organisations with implementation.
That work has a name: policy entrepreneurship, a term from Tom Kalil, once one of the most senior officials in the White House under Obama. You start with a question instead of a position: where are things getting stuck and where do we need to go? Then you look for the levers you can pull. In The Hague, that primarily requires one thing: bringing a great many people along.
We choose our dossiers carefully. Each one must be capable of generating or saving at least €1 billion, and it must be possible to build a broad coalition around it. We usually work on established government policy, because the problem is rarely what needs to happen, but how to make it happen. Sometimes we deliberately get ahead of the field, but always in the general interest of the Netherlands.
To do this, we look for two kinds of people: the nerd who enjoys thinking operationally and the policy wonk who loves ploughing through endless reports and understands the finer points of policy.
Our independence is non-negotiable. For our independent dossiers, we do not accept funding from governments or companies, and donations never influence the results of our research or our policy recommendations. As an ANBI-registered foundation, we largely depend on donations and funds. A smaller part of our income comes from the active support we provide within government to help projects cross the finish line.
Want to know more? In the video below, Onno and Oscar tell you more about how we work.
