Netherlands

The indicators in the report present a synthesis of research and innovation performance in the Netherlands. They relate knowledge investment and input to performance and economic output throughout the innovation cycle. They show thematic strengths in key technologies and also the high-tech and medium-tech contribution to the trade balance. The indicator on excellence in science and technology takes into consideration the quality of scientific production as well as technological development. The Innovation Output Indicator covers technological innovation, skills in knowledge-intensive activities, the competitiveness of knowledge-intensive goods and services, and the innovativeness of fast-growing enterprises, focusing on innovation output. The indicator on knowledge-intensity of the economy focuses on the economy’s sectoral composition and specialisation and shows the evolution of the weight of knowledge-intensive sectors and products.

After five years of pursuing an enterprise policy, now seems an appropriate time to take stock of the experiences gained. The Dutch economic system has developed favourably in recent years. According to the World Economic Forum, the Netherlands is the EU’s most enterprising and competitive economy. The Netherlands is strongly positioned, with a highly educated workforce, a sound and reliable, physical and knowledge infrastructure and a good digital infrastructure. The country enjoys a reputation as an attractive destination for foreign investments. The Netherlands has a strong and open international orientation and cooperative structures, stable macro-economic parameters, a powerful and rich tradition of public-private partnerships (PPPs), an attractive climate for new start-ups and an effective government system.

Labour productivity in the Netherlands is among the highest in the world. This is in part due to the country’s government-designated Top Sectors: priority areas of the economy whose performance is above average when measured against international benchmarks. Each Top Sector possesses unique and specialised knowledge and increasingly applies that knowledge beyond its own boundaries, combining it with the knowledge specialisations of other sectors in crossovers that target societal challenges. As such, the Top Sectors and their cooperation partners also contribute to the objectives of the National Science Agenda (NWA)1 and Horizon 20202.While the growth of the Dutch economy in the past few decades has been mostly the result of a larger labour input, in the years ahead it will be mainly driven by rises in labour productivity fuelled by innovation.

The Netherlands is in a good starting position to develop further into a region that is able to strike a balance between sustainable prosperity creation and a high quality of life for individuals and society at large. In the past few years, both the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (AWTI) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have issued recommendations regarding the Netherlands’ enterprise policy3. They both positively assessed that policy, but remarked that a number of changes are still to be implemented fully. Institutional reform requires a transitional period in which the players involved can adjust to the new policy frameworks. The AWTI concludes that the achievements of the Top Sector policy are substantial. The real gain is the innovation in collaborative efforts within the ‘golden triangle’ of businesses, knowledge institutions and government bodies, which draw up and implement agendas and action plans with a shared vision of the future. The AWTI recommends that the top teams and Top Consortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKIs) be given the opportunity to continue to expand the collaboration established in the past few years.The future requires an activating enterprise policy that builds upon the Dutch economy’s existing strengths. This calls for an active government that applies public-private partnership to societal objectives and missions. Radical innovation is served by versatile and flexible government regulation that allows a greater degree of institutional renewal to promote innovation, without compromising other public interests.

The OECD Skills Strategy provides a strategic approach to skills policies to promote better skills, better jobs and better lives. It aims to strengthen countries’ skills systems through the coherent development, activation and effective use of skills to promote economic prosperity and social cohesion, reflecting a strong focus on “lifetime employability”. The OECD works collaboratively with a range of countries in applying the OECD Skills Strategy framework to build more effective national skills strategies. Each national skills strategy country project offers a highly tailored approach to focus on the unique skills challenges, context and objectives of each country. Each project leverages OECD comparative data and policy analysis, fosters collaboration across ministerial portfolios and levels of government while engaging all relevant stakeholders – employers, trade unions, and civil society organisations.