For the patrons of Internet Freeworld, a typical coffeeshop in the heart of Amsterdam, there is little to indicate the city played as advanced a role in delivering computer bytes as it did decriminalising soft drugs.

Just a few miles from the tapping keyboards and pungent smell of marijuana, lies an unprepossessing science park where 20 years ago the Netherlands became the first country outside the US to gain a non-military link to what became the internet.