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Companies are striving to maintain R&D investments despite COVID-19.
Commissioned by TNO, Dialogic has estimated the development of R&D expenditures and R&D outsourcing by companies in the Netherlands for 2021 and 2022. To provide the requested insight, Dialogic, in collaboration with PanelWizard Direct, conducted a survey among a panel of 462 working Dutch individuals from 18 years and older who are employed in commercial enterprises with R&D activities. Additionally, Dialogic conducted interviews with representatives from 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 indicate that companies are making efforts to maintain their R&D investments despite the COVID-19 crisis. While the majority seem to succeed in this, there are also several categories of companies that are forced to adjust their R&D efforts and outsourcing.
Based on a survey among respondents working in an enterprise with R&D activities, 50% stated that in the company where they are employed, R&D (both internally conducted and outsourced) had increased in 2020 compared to 2019. 31% of respondents mentioned that R&D efforts remained the same, and 'only' 10% indicated that R&D had decreased to some extent in 2020 compared to 2019. This distribution does not significantly differ concerning the expected development of R&D activities in 2021 (compared to 2020) and 2022 (compared to 2021), although the uncertainty regarding this does increase. Small companies and some service sectors appear to be more vulnerable in this context.
The interviews conducted with 11 top R&D performers also suggest that the current COVID-19 crisis's impact on R&D investments seems limited so far. Preserving their own R&D capacity is a top priority. Regarding the R&D climate, the 11 interviewed R&D top performers highlight that there is still room for improvement in terms of stability and continuity of government policies, availability of R&D talent, and a 'bigger future plan,' i.e. a government making clear choices regarding priorities for R&D investments and innovation.
R&D and innovation are crucial for future earning capacity and the realisation of societal transitions, but the overall R&D intensity of the Dutch economy as a whole is too low. Additional desk research shows that over the period 2005-2019, the gross domestic R&D expenditures in the Netherlands, as a share of GDP, have increased. However, they still lag behind eight reference countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Austria, USA, South Korea, and Sweden) and are on par with the EU-28 as a whole. Company R&D expenditures in comparison to the reference countries remain relatively low.
For more detailed information and figures, including R&D outsourcing by Dutch companies with R&D activities, we refer you to the management summary of the report or the complete report.
