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 Education and Training Monitor is a European Commission Staff Working Document that presents a yearly evaluation of education and training systems across Europe. The report brings together the latest quantitative and qualitative data, technical reports and studies, as well as policy documents, and examples of policy measures from different EU Member States. By doing this, the Monitor presents evidence-based policy messages, thereby contributing to the implementation of the ET 2020 cooperation framework. The Monitor is also a tool for educational authorities in Europe to compare their country to other EU Member States, and an occasion for peer learning. The Monitor reports on EU and Member States’ performance on the ET2020 benchmarks, and elaborates on policy priorities for education systems (e.g. quality provision of ECEC, teacher education and continuing professional development, modernisation of vocational education and training and higher education, investment in education). Volume 1 of the Monitor provides an analysis from cross-national and thematic points of view. Volume 2 consists of 28 country reports on individual EU Member States. This year’s Education and Training Monitor explores societal challenges in more depth and addresses migration, demography and the key competences that education should help develop. The Monitor then analyses progress in raising educational outcomes — by reducing early school leaving and underachievement and increasing tertiary educational attainment — at EU level and in individual Member States. Finally, via the cross-national comparison of education systems and in the country analysis, the report presents and examines plenty of policy initiatives that can help make education more responsive to societal and labour market needs.

The report is the result of an analysis of country responses to a survey launched in the summer of 2015, addressing recent, current or planned priorities, policies and initiatives aimed at improving the relevance and quality of STEM education to encourage more students to study and choose a career in the STEM field. This year sees the inclusion of the largest number of countries to have yet taken part in the survey. The report is written within the framework of the project Scientix – the community for Science education in Europe. Scientix promotes and supports a Europe-wide collaboration among STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers, education researchers, policymakers and other STEM education professionals.

What has been the impact of the economic crisis on skill mismatch? Is there a cost in getting the unemployed quickly into any job? Why is skill mismatch prevalent among the EU workforce? To answer these and other timely questions on skill mismatch, Cedefop carried out the European skills and jobs (ESJ) survey. The findings caution that the prolonged economic downturn is threatening the long-term potential of the EU’s human resources. A greater share of recent job finders has entered into jobs that need lower qualifications and skills than their own. The unemployed also run a greater risk of misplacement into jobs of lower skill intensity. More than one in five EU employees has not developed skills since they started a job, as over one third of EU jobs are characterised by poor task complexity and lack of continued learning. Closer stakeholder collaboration and policy action is needed in the EU to generate not only more skills but also, crucially, better jobs for better-matched skills.

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.

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.

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.