NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, is the national research council of the Netherlands located in The Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands. An independent organisation, NWO has a legally defined task to promote scientific research at Dutch universities and research institutes and to raise the quality of that research in all scientific disciplines. NWO is a largely decentralised organisation governed by a General Board consisting of senior Dutch researchers. NWO comprises seven disciplinary research councils and various thematic steering bodies, each with its own governing board. The General Board and councils are supported by several central departments, e.g. for national policy and for international relations. Innovation by open, competitive funding is a key element in NWO activities. Different ministries contribute to the annual budget of approximately 450 M€, with core funding provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

International strategy and activities
In the current NWO strategy, international cooperation is a key element, with a pro-active attitude towards creating a European Research Area. NWO supports broad scientific co-operation at international and, in particular, European level. It works closely together with sister organisations and collaborates in programmes to facilitate the shared use of large research infrastructures. Enhanced cooperation among European research funding organisations is and will be one of the main objectives for international strategy. NWO is an active member of the European Science Foundation (ESF). The President of NWO is current Vice-President of the European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCS) and will be President from 1 January 2005 onwards. NWO participates in 15 ERA-net initiatives, of which three as coordinator. Furthermore, NWO was involved in the set-up of the first Article 169 initiative (EDCTP) and hosts its international secretariat.

Biodiversity research
At NWO biodiversity research is funded mainly through the Earth and Life Sciences Council, in cooperation with the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) and the Social Sciences Council. NWO allocates a total of >15 M€ annually for biodiversity research by (1) core funding for the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research; (2) the execution of (currently five) thematic research programmes in the field of biodiversity; (3) providing investment grants for infrastructure (amongst others: digitisation of taxonomic data); (4) initiating of and participating in EuroDiversity, an ESF EUROCORES on biodiversity; (5) funding biodiversity research project selected in bottom-up, open competition. Furthermore, NWO provides (core) funding for international initiatives such as Diversitas and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and its national version, NL-BIF. NWO is one the originators of the Dutch Biodiversity Platform. At present, plans are being developed for a new national biodiversity research programme in cooperation with the Dutch government and the scientific community.