R&D Top 50: a unique insight into innovation development

A unique insight

These are some of the conclusions from the report ‘Fifty Major Corporate R&D Investors in the Netherlands’ by TNO Vector, in collaboration with Technisch Weekblad and VNO-NCW. Unlike many international rankings, the R&D Top 50 focuses on R&D expenditure at the company level performed within the Netherlands, regardless of the nationality or headquarters of the company involved. It is a continuation and expansion of last year’s R&D Top 30 and provides insight into how private R&D activity and the innovation landscape have evolved over time. During a workshop of the European Commission, the Dutch R&D Top 30 was earlier this year qualified as an internationally unique best practice.

ASML stands out

The many billions of euros that Dutch businesses invest annually in research and development are heavily concentrated among a small number of companies, with ASML as the absolute outlier. At this company, R&D expenditure grew last year from 2.8 to 3 billion euros, roughly as much as the rest of the top 10 combined. The exponential growth of ASML’s R&D expenditure is evident from the fact that the 3 billion now was still 750 million in 2016. Following ASML in the top 10 are Philips, Booking.com, TomTom, Shell, Johnson & Johnson, KPN, DAF, VDL Group and Thales. Booking is, incidentally, the fastest-growing R&D investor in the top 50.

The rest of the top 50, however, presents a less favourable picture: excluding ASML, the growth of R&D expenditure fell back to 2.8%, compared to 4.3% a year earlier. With inflation at 3.3% in 2024, this means that R&D shrank in real terms.

Diverse top 10

At the same time, the top 10 is very diverse. ASML represents semiconductors and machine building, Philips in healthcare, Booking.com as a digital service provider, TomTom with application software, and Shell Netherlands in the energy and raw materials sector. This diversity of sectors is reflected throughout the top 50. Notably, TomTom is participating for the first time by disclosing its R&D figures, and Shell is doing so for the first time since 2017.

Rise of the Amsterdam region

Over the past quarter century, the Eindhoven region has been particularly prominent in R&D investments. ASML, Philips and VDL are the leaders in high-tech manufacturing here. At the same time, Shell, as a major R&D investor, demonstrates that the innovation landscape is not exclusively dominated by high-tech. Companies such as Booking and TomTom show that the Amsterdam region is an important player in this landscape with digital services. Newcomers to the R&D Top 50 such as RELX and Meta in this region confirm this picture.

The Netherlands lags behind in R&D expenditure

All these positive developments cannot conceal the fact that our country lags behind many EU countries. Sweden, Belgium, Austria, and Denmark are among the leaders within the EU, easily achieving the target of more than 3% of GDP in R&D investments, while our country remains in the middle bracket with just over 2%. This figure is mainly due to lagging private R&D expenditure. Many companies invest a relatively small part of their added value in research compared to companies in countries similar to ours.

Much potential

‘If Dutch companies were to exhibit the same average R&D intensity as companies in comparable sectors,, that would mean an additional 0.5 to 0.6 percentage points of GDP. That would bring us close to the desired 3%’, say Cor Jorna and Jasper van Kempen of TNO Vector.

According to them, there is significant potential in the Dutch pharmaceutical sector, electrical engineering industry, information and communication technology, and specialised business services. These are sectors that invest relatively little added value in research and where there is much potential to increase R&D intensity.

Leading role

‘For our future resilience, productivity and competitiveness, there is a need to further strengthen our high-tech position. While overall R&D intensity in the Netherlands may lag behind, the pattern of private R&D investment aligns well with European high-tech priorities, strengthening the basis for cooperation at European level. In the R&D Top 50, we have a relatively large share of high-tech companies operating in precisely the sectors that the EU considers crucial and where we can increase our labour productivity. With our high-tech base, we can play a leading role in Europe’s future knowledge economy.’