The innovative performance of the Netherlands, the provinces, and the EU-27

Impact

Data publication

How innovative are European countries? And how innovative are the Dutch provinces? In this datapublication comparison of the Netherlands with the EU average on a summary indicator for the innovative performance of countries. We also discuss the innovative performance of the Dutch provinces.

In short

  • The Netherlands belongs to the group of innovation leaders in 2026.
  • The Netherlands scores well above the EU average.
  • At provincial level, the Netherlands has seven innovation leaders and five strong innovators.

How innovative are the Netherlands and the EU-27 countries? 

Source: European Innovation Scoreboard 2026
Notes: The indices are relative to the European average in 2019 (EU-2019 = 100). The scoreboard is based on four groups of indicators. Together there are 32 indicators.

Analysis
The European Innovation Scoreboard is a composite index with four different groups of indicators: 1) "framework conditions", the main drivers of innovation performance external to firms; 2) "investments", public and private investment in research and innovation; 3) "innovation activities", the innovation activities of firms; and 4) "impacts", the effects of firms' innovation activities. Over the period 2019-2026, the Netherlands scores well above the EU average and belongs to the group of innovation leaders. Only in 2021 did the Netherlands belong to the group of strong innovators. In 2026, the Netherlands scores 142.1, above the EU average, as in previous years.
 

How innovative are the Dutch provinces?

Source: European Commision, Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025
Notes: The regional scoreboard, with 28 countries, is divided in four groups of indicators, which division is comparable with the European Innovation Scoreboard: 1) “framework conditions”, 2) “investments”, 3) “innovation activities” en 4) "impacts". The regional scoreboard only encompasses data for 21 out of the 32 indicators of the European scoreboard (some only partially). This is why the scores on country level in the regional scoreboard are different to those of the European scoreboard. The regional scoreboard has a similar grouping as the European Innovation Scoreboard: innovation leaders, strong innovators, moderate innovators and modest innovators.

Analysis
At the provincial level, the Netherlands has seven innovation leaders in 2025 (3% to 40% above the EU average of 112.5): Gelderland, Utrecht, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Groningen. Next comes a group of five provinces described as strong innovators: Overijssel, Flevoland, Drenthe, Zeeland and Friesland.

For an explanation of the used definitions and abbreviations we refer to the webpage Definitions for Science in Figures.

Footnotes

    Related publications

  • The innovative capacity of the Netherlands
  • The share of innovative enterprises