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On behalf of TNO, Dialogic has estimated the development of R&D spending and outsourcing by businesses in the Netherlands for 2021 and 2022. To provide the required insight, Dialogic, in collaboration with PanelWizard Direct, conducted a survey among a panel of 462 working Dutch individuals aged 18 and above, who are employed in commercial enterprises with R&D activities. Additionally, Dialogic conducted interviews with representatives of 11 R&D top performers in the Netherlands (ASML, Philips, KPN, Janssen, DSM, VDL, Rijk Zwaan, Vanderlande Industries, DEMCON, Damen, and ING).
Our survey and interviews reveal that businesses are making efforts to maintain their R&D investments despite the COVID-19 crisis. The majority seem to be succeeding, but there are also various categories of businesses that must adjust their own R&D efforts and outsourcing out of necessity.
Based on a survey among respondents working in enterprises with R&D activities, 50% report that in the company where they work, R&D (both in-house and outsourced) increased in 2020 compared to 2019. 31% of respondents indicate that the R&D effort remained the same, and 'only' 10% state that R&D in 2020 decreased to some extent compared to 2019. This distribution does not differ significantly for the expected development of R&D activities in 2021 (compared to 2020) and 2022 (compared to 2021), although there is an increasing level of uncertainty. Small businesses and certain service sectors appear to be more vulnerable in this regard.
Similarly, interviews with 11 top R&D performers reveal that the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on R&D investments seems limited for now. Preserving their R&D capacity is considered a top priority. Regarding the R&D climate, the 11 interviewed R&D top performers suggest that there is still room for improvement in terms of stability and continuity of government policy, availability of R&D talent, and a 'larger vision' or a government that makes clear choices regarding priorities for R&D investment and innovation.
R&D and innovation are crucial for future earning potential and the realisation of societal transitions, but the overall R&D intensity of the Dutch economy across the board is too low. Supplementary desk research indicates that over the period 2005-2019, gross domestic R&D expenditures in the Netherlands increased as a share of GDP. However, they still lag behind eight reference countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Austria, USA, South Korea, and Sweden) and are at the level of the EU-28 as a whole. Business R&D spending in comparison to reference countries remains relatively low.
For more details and figures, including information on R&D outsourcing by Dutch companies with R&D activities, please refer to the management summary of the report or the entire report.
Interested in learning more about this research? Please contact Pim den Hertog.