On Thursday 4 October, ING presented its report during the IndustrieTop Noord in Dokkum. While the Randstad provinces score the highest on innovation, Drenthe, Fryslân and Zeeland lag far behind. Innovatiecluster Drachten, is strongly represented in Southeast Friesland in particular, is the exception to this and, according to ING's Economic and Financial Analysis Division, an example of how a region is making strong progress despite a mediocre starting position. Joining forces, cooperation also outside the region and a focus on the high-tech industry should form the basis for long-term economic growth, according to ING.

energy transition

According to the report, the challenges for the Netherlands are great. Due to the aging of the population, structural economic growth is declining. As a result, the growth of productivity depends on technological development. Moreover, the report states, the yet to be concluded Climate Agreement entails an energy transition that is very expensive for the business community. In order to achieve the climate goals in a cost-effective way, innovations are therefore crucial.

More innovation
A striking point from the report is that the current tightness in the labor market often leads to more than to less investment in innovation. As many as a quarter of the entrepreneurs indicate that due to the shortage on the labor market, their own investments in innovation will increase in the coming years in order to be able to work more efficiently. Moreover, companies see the need to collaborate more with other companies and knowledge institutions.

Report
With a second place on the Global Innovation Index and fourth on the European Innovation Scoreboard, the Netherlands performs well in the field of innovation. However, the score for business investment in R&D is lagging behind, according to the report.
read the whole report here.