Research and development; personnel, expenditure, company size, branch

Research and development; personnel, expenditure, company size, branch

Company size Sector/branches (SIC2008) Periods R&D personnel Employed persons (number) R&D personnel Years of work (number) Expenditure R&D on in-house activities (mln euro) Enterprises with in-house R&D activities (number)
Total M-N Business services 2021 39,327 25,310 2,467 4,720
Total M Other specialised business services 2021 35,437 23,644 2,339 3,870
Total 74 Other specialised business services 2021 1,158 820 56 280
Total N Renting and other business support 2021 3,890 1,666 128 855
0 to 49 employed persons M-N Business services 2021 15,562 8,584 651 4,220
0 to 49 employed persons M Other specialised business services 2021 14,121 8,018 619 3,525
0 to 49 employed persons 74 Other specialised business services 2021 . . . 265
0 to 49 employed persons N Renting and other business support 2021 1,441 565 32 700
50 to 249 employed persons M-N Business services 2021 10,166 6,944 656 390
50 to 249 employed persons M Other specialised business services 2021 9,495 6,461 617 285
50 to 249 employed persons 74 Other specialised business services 2021 319 230 20 15
50 to 249 employed persons N Renting and other business support 2021 671 483 38 105
250 and more employed persons M-N Business services 2021 13,599 9,782 1,161 110
250 and more employed persons M Other specialised business services 2021 11,821 9,164 1,103 60
250 and more employed persons 74 Other specialised business services 2021 . . . .
250 and more employed persons N Renting and other business support 2021 1,777 618 58 50
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Dataset is not available.


This table contains figures regarding enterprises that conduct in-house Research and Development (R&D) activities with own or external personnel. Additionally figures are available regarding the personnel and the expenditure related to these R&D activities.

The figures are broken down by company size and branch of industry according to the Standard Industrial Classification 2008 (SIC 2008).

The R&D activities are conducted in-house by own or external personnel in the Netherlands. Outsourced R&D is not included in this table. Furthermore, this table only concerns the "businesses" sector. The sectors "institutions" and "higher education" are not included in this table.

Data available from: 2013

Status of the figures:
All figures are definitive.

Changes as of 7 August 2023:
The definitive figures about 2021 have been published.

When will new figures be published?
Mid 2024 definitive figures about 2022 will be published.

Description topics

R&D personnel
The personnel that conducts the in-house R&D activities, expressed in numbers of employed persons and years of work.
Employed persons
Someone working for a company located in the Netherlands, or for an institution or private household in the Netherlands.

In order to be included in the R&D personnel an employed person needs to spend at least 0,1 FTE annually on R&D related activities.

Employed persons are all persons having paid jobs, even for only one or some hours a week, and even if they:
- work legally as such, but without registration for income tax and social security (“undeclared work”);
- are temporarily not at work, but have continued receipt of wages or salary (for instance in case of illness or hold-ups due to frost);
- are on a temporary unpaid-leave.
Employed persons can be divided into employees and the self-employed persons. They can live in the Netherlands, but also abroad.

Years of work
A measure for the volume of work, calculated by converting all jobs (full-time and part-time) into full-time jobs, also known as full-time equivalents (FTE).

As such, when combined, the volume of work of two half jobs (0.5 FTE each) totals one year of work.
Expenditure R&D on in-house activities
Enterprises with in-house R&D activities