A change in circumstances

Dutch R&D spending has ballooned—due to revised calculation methods

Sometimes, small changes have a big impact. At first glance, it looks as if the Netherlands managed to increase R&D expenditure between 2017 and 2018 by 10 per cent—but this was not due to a sudden spate of spending. The increase was simply caused by a change in the method of calculation.

In 2019, Statistics Netherlands revised the way it calculated R&D spending in line with EU guidelines. It now includes the costs of R&D personnel hired by companies, as well as innovation spending from public research institutions that receive more than half of their income from companies.