How does it look like with the innovative performance in the Netherlands? We hear a lot from government officials about “there are problems” and “lets create a new committee/innovation platform” to solve this. But what are the reasons? According to the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), the Netherlands are currently an average performer in the European Union. Nothing more, nothing less. The leading countries are currently Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Sure, the Netherlands still perform better than “catching up” and “loosing ground” countries, but this is surely less interesting. What are the reasons for the current position of the Netherlands? According to the EIS, there are a number of reasons. One of the most important reasons is the lack of science and engineering (S&E) students (around 60 percent of EU average). This is serious and has been discussed extensively. The current advice for the problem is (actually similar to US policies) highly trained immigrants (in particular from Eastern Europe). A second important reason is the continuous decline in the intensity of business R&D since 1999. Currently, business R&D is just 80 percent of the EU average. What is happen to this investment, where did it go? There definitely is a link to the burst of the DotCom bubble in 1999 and of the technology stocks, but there is more. Is it that the innovative climate has changed in such a way that innovative Dutch companies move abroad to develop innovations? Like Philips did in moving R&D from Eindhoven to Leuven? Maybe that both trends, insufficient S&E graduates and insufficient R&D business investment reinforce each other?
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