Toespraak van Z.K.H. de Prins van Oranje, uitgesproken bij de Heinekenprijzen uitreiking, Amsterdam, vrijdag 1 oktober 2004 (Engels)
Distinguished laureates,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I should like to commence by extending my sincere congratulations to the laureates who have earned these prestigious awards, and to whom I shall devote further attention shortly. And I naturally wish to thank Mrs Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, as Chair of the Alfred Heineken Funds Foundation, for having continued to pursue her father's initiative. Freddy Heineken was an exceptional man, who certainly deserves to be revered in this manner.
Heineken, as a company that has always been in pursuit of highest perfection, wishes to acknowledge those who have achieved it, be it in arts, science or sports. Mens sana in corpore sano, if my high school Latin does not let me down! Therefore it can be no coincidence that within two months after the Athens Summer Olympics, where our greatest were honoured in the Holland Heineken House, we gather again to celebrate five heroes, all under the umbrella of the same host.
Sportsmen and women and scientists all share a common goal, which is to stretch their own limits. Sports people constantly seek to go faster, or to perform more accurately or gracefully. Scientists constantly seek to learn more, about the origins of the universe, or our distant history. Or about the human body and our health. And sometimes, scientists can assist the sports people a little, by designing such equipment as the klapskate, or aquadynamic swimsuits.
Especially in Olympic years, sportsmen and women receive their fair share of acclaim. But what of the scientists and the artists, do they receive enough appreciation and scope? Freddy thought not, and therefore established the Heineken Awards, to ensure that scientists and artists would be given the respect they deserve. It is also no coincidence that the booklet published to commemorate the awards ceremony bears the title "Out of respect for knowledge". It explains exactly why Freddy Heineken considered science and art so important. And at this point I should like to quote from Mrs De Carvalho-Heineken's foreword, which sums this up so aptly: "Alfred Heineken was much more than just a respected entrepreneur. He was a man of unbridled curiosity, for whom science and art were not so much an enrichment, as a necessity of life. Deep down, my father was an inventor, a man with an inquiring mind". His fascination with science and admiration for its practitioners stemmed from his insatiable appetite for knowledge.
Freddy Heineken therefore thought that scientists deserve more respect, and so do I. After all, we owe a great debt to science. Our nation enjoys a high level of welfare, even when viewed from an international perspective. However, we have only been able to achieve this by continuing to invest in the development and dissemination of knowledge. At the turn of the nineteenth century, this country had a population of just two million, most of whom were poor, unhealthy and uneducated. Nowadays, just two centuries later, we have a society comprising eight times as many inhabitants. The vast majority is wealthy, enjoys good health, and is well educated. And this can be largely attributed to the huge progress of science and technology.
And we are still making progress. In the course of 25 years, we have accumulated more new knowledge than in all the preceding centuries put together. If mankind were to expand the limits of sporting performance at the same rate, then - before the end of this century - the marathon would be run within fifteen minutes.
A prime example of this rapid progress is medical science, which has truly advanced in leaps and bounds. Thanks to improved nutrition and health care, people live longer on average. Now we are faced with the dilemma of how to ensure we do so with as few ailments as possible. Freddy Heineken also took great interest in medical science. Given another choice in life, he himself maintained that he would have liked to perform research to find a cure for cancer.
And science also contributes greatly to our economy. Knowledge is an increasingly crucial factor for economic success. Our competitive position depends on it. New, groundbreaking knowledge, the utilisation of existing knowledge, and a high level of education increasingly prove decisive in this area.
However, scientists are not the only ones who add to our wealth, artists contribute just as much. The design sector is a particularly important field, when viewed from a financial point of view. In our country, it is even more significant than the airline or the oil extraction industries. With a total of around 46,000 designs annually, the "creative industry" contributes 2.6 billion euros to the Dutch economy.
Science also contributes significantly to the social and cultural development of the society in which we live. We expect science to assist us in solving social problems such as (in)security and the lack of integration and participation. We also expect science to contribute to sustainability.
But perhaps the most significant reason that we consider science so important, is that science enriches society. Academic thinking is a dominant characteristic of our culture. The ties between scientific thinking and social behaviour, too, are centuries old. And these ties are becoming increasingly strong.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I began my speech by comparing scientists and sportsmen and women, and concluding that the sports people deservedly receive a great deal of recognition, while scientists are still afforded too little. I should therefore also like to pose the question if we should not perhaps treat scientists and sports people equally. The more I hear scientists' complaints about bureaucracy, the more I am convinced that we should.
If a sportsman or woman wishes to take part in the Olympics Games, then he or she has to do one thing: meet the Olympic qualifying requirement. During this, often lonely, struggle to reach the top, we do not stand in their way. They draw up their own training schedules, in consultation with their advisers of course, choose their own training camps and their own coaches. The government does not meddle in this sort of decisions. Just imagine that Pieter van den Hoogenband or Leontien van Moorsel had been obliged to submit their training schedules and plans to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports for approval. Would they still have made such outstanding achievements, would they have broken Olympic records?
Why then do we not also leave scientists alone in their equally lonely struggle to reach the summit, to achieve scientific breakthroughs? Let us please give them more time and scope to do what they are good at: research!
Refrain from asking scientists to submit time-consuming plans, but judge them instead on the basis of their achievements and qualities, in the same manner as we estimate sports people on the basis of their sporting achievements, and artists on the quality of their works of art. Thankfully, the times in which we live permit a return to this approach. Here in the Netherlands, and throughout Europe indeed, it is no longer considered a sin to want to rise above oneself. Quality and excellence have once more become determining factors.
And our country is once again opting for quality, by offering ample scope to talented students, leading researchers, top-class sportsmen and women and artists. And today also, we are here to pay tribute to talent: four excellent scientists and one artist who have made a name for themselves.
Dear prize winners,
First of all, congratulations on winning your awards. The Heineken Awards are prestigious prizes, which command substantial international acclaim.
The four categories were not chosen at random. The award for biochemistry and biophysics was established first, in memory of Alfred Heineken's own father, the chemist Henry Pierre Heineken. It is the Netherlands' major award for science, and a number of former recipients were later also awarded a Nobel Prize.
Freddy Heineken had a passion for fine things. Art played a significant role in his life, in fact, paintings and sculptures held a particular appeal for him. As his daughter admits: "He could really fall in love with a painting". His passion for art therefore moved him to establish the award for art.
And similarly, it was his admiration of medical scientists that prompted his decision to introduce the award for medicine. He felt that medical scientists were not afforded the appreciation they deserved. To use his own words: "Brewing beer is fun, but the eradication of disease is of a different order".
Freddy Heineken had originally earmarked the funds that he ultimately devoted to the award for historical science for a different purpose, namely a history project for the European youth. Because, as he himself argued: "Without a common history, you can't create a United Europe". He later decided to devote the award as an extra incentive to scientific research into the history of Europe.
And finally, there is the award for environmental sciences. Brewers - among others - have a great affinity with water. It is, after all, one of the main ingredients used in the preparation of the amber nectar that warms many a heart. When global awareness was finally drawn to the fact, back in the nineteen-eighties, that environmental management is a true science like any other, Freddy Heineken decided to sponsor an award in this category also.
Well, I should now like to proceed with the presentations, but not before I have congratulated you, the award-winners, once again.
Thank you.