The Dutch innovative power continues to rank among the European top. But in the past year, the scores of various EU countries, including the Netherlands, have deteriorated. This is evident from the leading European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) that was published today. The Netherlands is ranked as Innovation Leader together with Denmark, Sweden and Finland and, as in 2023, will be in 4th place behind these three.
Innovation leaders are the countries that score more than 25% above the EU average. The Netherlands scores just above this this year with 26%. The EIS assesses all EU member states on 32 indicators and compares these results with other countries within and outside Europe. This includes the amount of private and public investments in research and development, public-private partnerships, innovation within SMEs, digitalization, patent applications, quality of research and the level of employment within innovative companies.
Minister Dirk Beljaarts (Economic Affairs):
The new government is committed to a strong business climate, so that small and large companies can also focus on innovation. We see in several international rankings that the Netherlands is among the top, but is also slowly losing ground. For example, because SMEs do not have enough time for innovation due to regulatory pressure. Due to a lack of financing, we are also not converting enough high-quality knowledge into new products and services.
Sterkere en zwakkere punten Nederlandse innovatiekracht
The minister continues:
The points of interest in this innovation ranking affect us all. That is why an approach to this is necessary and part of my elaboration of the government program.
The EIS traditionally identifies strong points of the Netherlands such as the education level of the population and the quality of the research (system), which ensures a high level of knowledge. Digital skills and their application in innovation also score high. According to the EIS, recent improvements in the Netherlands compared to 2023 are employment at innovative companies, the export of high-tech products and the turnover achieved with innovative products. However, for the last two indicators, the Netherlands still scores low compared to the EU average.
The relatively low amount of private investment in innovation is a weak point of the Netherlands. Although this has improved slightly in 2024, the Netherlands still scores well below the EU average, while the amount of public investments and government support for private investments are still at or above EU level.
