The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has established a €2.5 million open access budget. The NWO is "the largest financer of scientific innovation in the Netherlands and operates as an intermediary between researchers, (international) science centres and society."
Here's an excerpt from the press release :
Open Access—meaning free access to scientific and scholarly information—is winning ground, and more and more information is becoming freely accessible to the public. The parties concerned—including publishers—are increasingly accepting Open Access as the norm. At the Open Access seminar organised by SURF in Amsterdam, Prof. Jos Engelen, chairman of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), announced that his organisation would be providing a special Open Access budget of EUR 2.5m.
In "Nederland 'Open Access-Land'" (in Dutch), it is stated that the NWO will also establish a €2.5 million contingency fund and that researchers will apply for €5,000 project grants for open access publications.
The above press release also states that:
The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) has reached agreement with Springer that in 2010 all articles by Dutch researchers in Springer journals will be made available Open Access, subject to the author agreeing.
