Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol1-1 > Netherlands

According to the EIS, the Netherlands is part of the group “innovation followers”, together with Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland and Luxembourg. This means that its SII scores are below those of the innovation leaders, but equal to, or above that of the EU-27 average. The trend in the Netherlands’ innovation performance has been about the same as the EU average over the last five years. The Netherlands is above average in its efficiency in transforming innovation inputs into outputs. Overall, the trend of the Netherlands is positive, although further improvement of the innovativeness of the Dutch economy is one of the main policy objectives.

Main innovation policy challenges

• Higher levels of output and excellence in higher education and research.
• Strengthening the innovative capacity of the Dutch economy to increase productivity and to solve societal challenges.
• Creating more room for (innovative) entrepreneurship, by reducing bottlenecks for entrepreneurs and improving access to capital especially for starting and fast-growing firms.

Action

These challenges are recognised and addressed in Dutch innovation policy. Since a renewal and streamlining of the innovation policy mix in 2005, there is a “basic package” of generic measures for all entrepreneurs and a “programmatic approach” targeted at key areas of the Dutch economy. The new set of measures is characterised by more flexibility and customisation.

To further improve the balance between generic and specific policies, the “key approach” would be the best way forward, learning from the experiences gained with the first series of innovation programmes in the key areas. In addition, it would also be good to further stimulate the innovativeness of all SMEs (not just R&D-intensive firms) by continuing attention to interaction with the public knowledge infrastructure and improving the accessibility of innovation support measures. In general, the Dutch government should continue to have an active innovation policy, characterised by an integral support on innovation processes and a targeted approach aimed at backing winners’.