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

View full table Show description
Company size Sector/branches (SIC2008) 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 43,057 28,747 3,188 .
M Other specialised business services 38,674 26,740 3,018 .
74 Other specialised business services . . . .
N Renting and other business support 4,383 2,006 170 .
0 to 49 employed persons M-N Business services 17,931 9,941 862 .
M Other specialised business services 16,358 9,171 808 .
74 Other specialised business services . . . .
N Renting and other business support 1,573 770 53 .
50 to 249 employed persons M-N Business services 10,039 7,102 895 .
M Other specialised business services 9,161 6,654 860 .
74 Other specialised business services 188 124 11 .
N Renting and other business support 878 447 35 .
250 and more employed persons M-N Business services 15,087 11,704 1,432 .
M Other specialised business services 13,155 10,915 1,349 .
74 Other specialised business services . . . .
N Renting and other business support 1,933 789 83 .
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Table explanation


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:
The data regarding 2013-2021 are definitive and the data regarding 2022-2023 are revised provisional.

Changes as of 15 August 2025:
The revised provisional figures about 2023 have been published.

As of statistical year 2022, a new sample design and weighting method are used for this statistic. This makes the published data more accurate, but this change does mean that for the moment the figures on the number of R&D firms cannot be published yet.

When will new figures be published?
Mid 2026 the figures about 2024 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