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 2024.
  • The Netherlands scores well above the EU average.
  • At provincial level, the Netherlands has six innovation leaders and six strong innovators in 2023.

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

Source: European Innovation Scoreboard 2024
Notes: The scoreboard is based on four groups of indicators: 1) “framework conditions”, the main drivers of innovative performance external to the enterprises, 2) "investments", public and private investment in research and innovation; 3) "innovation activities", the innovation efforts at the level of the firm and 4) "impacts", the effects of firms’ innovation activities. Together there are 32 indicators. The countries are divided into four groups: innovation leaders, strong innovators, moderate innovators and modest innovators.

Analysis
The European Innovation Scoreboard is a index composed of four different groups of indicators: 1) “framework conditions”, the main drivers of innovative performance outside companies; 2) “investments”, public and private investments in research and innovation; 3) “innovation activities”, the innovation activities of companies; and 4) "impacts", the effects of innovative activities of companies. At country level, the Netherlands belonged to the group of strong innovators in 2021 (a score between 100%-125% compared to the EU average=100%). In 2024, the Netherlands belongs to the group of innovation leaders (above 110% of the EU average). The Netherlands scores well above the EU average.
 

How innovative are the Dutch provinces?

Source: European Commision, Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2023
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 provincial level, the Netherlands has six innovation leaders in 2023 (27% - 40% above the EU average of 108.5): Gelderland, Utrecht, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant en Limburg. This is followed by a group of provinces that are described as strong innovators: Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Flevoland en Zeeland.  

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

Related publications

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