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On Monday 5th October, the Ministry of Economic Affairs presented the Monitor Business Policy 2015. This year's focus is on cross-overs. The analysis 'Top Sectors and Cross-overs' is largely based on the study 'Cross-overs and Industrial Policy' recently conducted by Dialogic on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Together with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (Planbureau van de Leefomgeving), we determined to what extent the Top Sectors resemble each other in terms of underlying knowledge base. This was investigated based on CBS microdata related to labour mobility between industries.
The study shows that most Top Sectors encompass a reasonably coherent collection of industries, but there are also notable intersections. We argue for a sharper focus on such cross-overs when shaping innovation policy, as this provides insight into the activities that can connect innovators with very different backgrounds. Bringing together parties from unrelated specialisations is a promising strategy when it comes to fostering new combinations of knowledge.