Answers to frequently asked questions

To enable us to assess your enquiry properly, we ask you to complete the contact form as fully as possible. Please make sure to include at least:

• the name of your organisation and your Chamber of Commerce (KvK) or VAT number;
• the country in which your organisation is based;
• a brief description of your question or challenge;
• the stage your development is in, for example an idea, prototype or scaling phase.

You can submit your enquiry via the contact form.

Based on this information, we will assess your enquiry and, where possible, forward it to the most suitable expert or department within TNO.

TNO supports organisations with innovation and research challenges. Do you have a specific question about the development, validation or application of technology? If so, we would be happy to think along with you.

Your enquiry is a good fit for TNO if it comes from an organisation, has a clear objective, and focuses on innovation, research or technological development.

Would you like to learn more about the different ways to collaborate with TNO? Please visit the page Collaboration to read about commissioned projects, public-private partnerships, innovation programmes, and support for startups, scale-ups and SMEs. Each year, TNO collaborates with thousands of companies, government bodies and research institutions on innovation challenges.

We do not process enquiries from private individuals, students or commercial requests related to sales, sponsorship or advertising.

TNO collaborates with organisations that are registered with the Chamber of Commerce. These collaborations take place within research and innovation projects or through paid assignments.

If you have an innovative idea but do not yet have a business, TNO is usually not the most suitable partner at this early stage. There are other organisations that can support startups and entrepreneurs in further developing, testing and realising innovative ideas.

On the website of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) you can find an overview of organisations, schemes and support available for innovative entrepreneurs and startups.

Once your idea has been further developed and there is an organisation or a concrete innovation challenge, you can, as a start-up request a no-obligation consultation via TNO Fast Track.

Yes, that is possible. TNO regularly receives requests to contribute to conferences, seminars, meetings and other events.

Does your event align with TNO’s areas of expertise and themes? If so, you can share your requirements and event details with us via the contact form.

To enable us to assess your request properly, we ask you to include the following information:

• the topic and objective of the event;
• the desired expertise or speaker;
• the date and location;
• the type of audience;
• the indicative budget available.

Based on this information, we will consider whether a TNO expert is available and whether we can provide a suitable contribution to your event.

The response time depends on the nature of your enquiry and the department involved. For straightforward questions, you will often receive a response on the same working day. More complex enquiries, which require consultation with specialists or multiple departments, may take longer. In such cases, we aim to provide a substantive response within a maximum of 10 working days.

If we are unable to answer your question straight away, we will ensure it is forwarded to the appropriate expert as quickly as possible. In that case, you will usually first receive a confirmation that your message has been received and is being processed.

If you have any questions for the Accounts Payable department, please call +31 88 866 62 88 or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Questions for the Purchasing department can be sent via [email protected]. Please note: TNO works with preferred suppliers. If we are looking for new suppliers, this is generally via a tender at TenderNed.

TNO stopped carrying out standard testing and analysis of consumer products, food products and construction materials several years ago.

Some of these activities have been transferred to separate organisations:

Triskelion, analysis of food products and food safety testing
Efectis Netherlands, fire safety of products
Tass International, testing of helmets, child seats and seat belts
TÜV Netherlands, testing in the areas of glass, paint/coatings and textiles

Information about previously tested products is not available from TNO. You may want to contact the party for whom the test was carried out. This is usually the manufacturer. We do not have any general information or guidelines with which products must comply.

No, TNO does not provide support or advice to individual parties in relation to claims for damages, legal procedures or court cases.

To safeguard the independence of our expertise, TNO only carries out such work at the request of a judge, arbitrator or another independent authority.

If you are involved in ongoing legal proceedings, it is best to contact your legal adviser, solicitor or the organisation handling your case.

TNO receives many requests from private individuals every day, for example to think along on an idea, answer a question about purchasing a product, or provide an opinion based on specific expertise. To ensure that our experts’ time is used as effectively as possible, we are unfortunately unable to respond to these types of individual and non-committal enquiries.

If you are looking for general information or research results, you can consult TNO’s public publications, articles and studies. These are available in the TNO Repository. Many answers to general questions can already be found in our publicly available publications and research.

We work for companies and public authorities and don't have good material for your technasium assignment. Check out Jet-Net or Kennisnet for useful information. Good luck with your assignment!

It's nice to hear that you are interested in TNO for your subject cluster project. Unfortunately, we work for companies and governments and don’t have good material for your subject cluster project. Check out Jet-Net or Kennisnet for useful information. Good luck with your assignment!

Yes, TNO regularly offers internships, graduation assignments and traineeships for vocational (MBO), applied sciences (HBO) and university (WO) students. The available opportunities vary by field and location.

Check for open internships and graduation assignments.

Due to the high volume of requests, we are currently unable to process enquiries for interviews, theses, study assignments and other education-related projects.

If you are looking for research results, reports or background information, many TNO publications are publicly available in the TNO Repository.

If you would like to ask a substantive question to a professor affiliated with TNO, please contact the university where the professor is appointed. They can assist you further or refer you to the appropriate contact person.

For the most part, TNO has stopped conducting standard tests and analyses of consumer products, foods, and construction materials. For some of these activities separate private limited companies have been established:

• Triskelion, food analysis, food safety testing
• Efectis Nederland, fire performance of products
• Tass International, testing of helmets, child seats, seat belts
• TÜV Nederland, testing of glass, paints/coatings, textiles

TNO carries out very limited CE certification, which is limited to a number of products in the construction sector. General information on CE marking, among other things, can be found on the euronorm website.

Yes, download TNO's ISO 9001 certificate.

Yes, TNO has a range of test facilities and expertise to test and validate products, materials and technologies for organisations. The available options vary depending on the field and the specific application.

Would you like to know what TNO can offer for your specific situation? Please contact us.

Public TNO reports can be found through the search function on the TNO website and in the TNO Repository, TNO’s digital library. The repository contains tens of thousands of scientific publications, research reports, conference papers, and other knowledge products. For many publications, the full text is available for direct download.

If you cannot find a report or are looking for a report that is more than four years old, please contact the TNO Library at [email protected]. Please note that not all reports are publicly available. Reports produced for clients or resulting from product testing may be confidential.

TNO offers opportunities in project management, consultancy, science and research, business development, and a range of supporting disciplines. Our vacancies cover a wide variety of expertise areas and vary across different fields of knowledge.

Explore all fields of expertise.

No, applications submitted via the general contact form will not be processed. We are also not accepting open applications at this time.

If you are interested in working at TNO, please view our current vacancies and apply via the online application form.

You can find all information about internships, graduate positions, the Talent Development Programme and the TNO Traineeship on the ‘Start your career at TNO’ page.

Discover what it’s like to work at TNO by reading employee stories and watching videos featuring TNO colleagues sharing their experiences.

No, TNO does not engage in external sponsorship.

As an independent non-profit organisation, TNO does not have a discretionary sponsorship budget. The funds TNO receives from, among others, government bodies, companies and other clients are allocated to research, innovation and societal impact.

For this reason, we do not support external activities, events or initiatives through sponsorship or financial contributions.

If you are a journalist and would like to know more about our work, please contact our press officers.