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? 

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?

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.