This article examines the emergence of twentieth-century technological development policies in the Netherlands East Indies from broader welfare policies formulated in the nineteenth century. Identity became particularly important in policymaking as officials disputed whether differences between Javanese and European culture could explain why the Javanese did not flourish under colonial rule, and whether encouraging Javanese to become more like Europeans would solve ‘Native’ welfare problems. Technical experts, whose development projects would increasingly define what a ‘developed’ Native would be, became crucially important players in debates about ‘Europeanizing’ the indigenous people.