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

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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 A-U All economic activities 202,991 147,342 18,721 .
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing 5,446 3,621 373 .
B-E Industry (no construction), energy 73,160 57,837 9,167 .
B Mining and quarrying 442 202 23 .
C Manufacturing 71,339 56,892 9,046 .
10-12 Manufacture of food and beverages 4,868 3,847 473 .
10 Manufacture of food products 4,765 3,787 469 .
11 Manufacture of beverages . . . .
12 Manufacture of tobacco products . . . .
13-15 Man. of textile-, leatherproducts 526 379 42 .
13 Manufacture of textiles 345 244 30 .
14 Manufacture of wearing apparel 42 19 1 .
15 Manufacture of leather and footwear 138 116 11 .
16+23 Man of wooden and buildingmaterial 1,087 493 47 .
16 Manufacture of wood products 352 160 11 .
17-18 Manufacture of paper and printing 671 398 34 .
17 Manufacture of paper 479 277 25 .
18 Printing and reproduction 192 120 9 .
19-22 Refineries and chemistry 9,458 7,826 1,269 .
19 Manufacture of coke and petroleum . . . .
20-21 Chemistry and pharmaceuticals 7,055 6,193 904 .
20 Manufacture of chemicals 4,451 3,930 566 .
21 Manufacture of pharmaceuticals 2,604 2,263 338 .
22 Manufacture rubber, plastic products . . . .
23 Manufacture of building materials 736 333 36 .
24-30, 33 Metalectro 53,025 42,761 7,072 .
24-25 Man. of basic metals and -products 4,836 2,550 315 .
24 Manufacture of basic metals 1,063 726 137 .
25 Manufacture of metal products 3,773 1,824 178 .
26-28 Manufact of electronics, machinery 42,031 36,143 6,339 .
26-27 Elektrical and electron. Industry 13,263 11,190 1,710 .
26 Manufacture of electronic products 9,070 7,703 1,258 .
27 Manufacture of electric equipment 4,192 3,487 452 .
28 Manufacture of machinery n.e.c. 28,768 24,953 4,629 .
29-30 Transport equipment 4,694 3,374 357 .
29 Manufacture of cars and trailers 2,368 1,993 216 .
30 Manufacture of other transport 2,326 1,381 140 .
31 Manufacture of furniture 278 166 14 .
32 Manufacture of other products 1,427 1,023 95 .
33 Repair and installation of machinery 1,463 694 62 .
D Energy supply 755 444 68 .
35 Energy supply 755 444 68 .
E Water supply and waste management 624 299 30 .
F Construction 2,248 1,182 109 .
G-I Trade, transport, hotels, catering 17,243 11,318 1,146 .
G Wholesale and retail trade 15,829 10,289 1,002 .
H Transportation and storage 1,326 981 140 .
I Accommodation and food serving 88 49 4 .
J Information and communication 41,765 30,083 2,680 .
58-60 Publishing, movie, radio and TV . . . .
58 Publishing 1,089 813 142 .
59 Film, TV and music production etc . . . .
60 Programming and broadcasting . . . .
61 Telecommunications . . . .
62-63 IT- and information services 35,838 25,436 2,260 .
62 Support activities in the field of IT 33,474 23,858 2,083 .
63 Information service activities 2,363 1,578 177 .
K Financial institutions 5,511 4,065 501 .
L Renting, buying, selling real estate 127 78 7 .
68 Renting, buying, selling real estate 127 78 7 .
M-N Business services 46,568 33,250 4,074 .
M Other specialised business services 40,070 28,279 3,281 .
69-71 Management, technical consultancy 16,642 9,249 850 .
69 Legal services, administration etc. 914 482 54 .
70 Holding companies (not financial) 3,425 1,808 156 .
71 Architects, technical services etc. 12,303 6,960 640 .
72 Research and development 20,081 16,975 2,251 .
73-75 Advertising, design and other 3,347 2,054 180 .
73 Advertising and market research 1,772 1,202 124 .
74 Other specialised business services . . . .
75 Veterinary activities . . . .
N Renting and other business support 6,498 4,972 793 .
O-Q Government and care . . . .
O Public administration and services . . . .
84 Public administration and services . . . .
P Education . . . .
85 Education . . . .
Q Health and social work activities . . . .
87-88 Care and social work . . . .
R-U Culture, recreation, other services . . . .
R Culture, sports and recreation . . . .
S Other service activities . . . .
T Activities of households . . . .
U Extraterritorial organisations . . . .
99 Extraterritorial organisations . . . .
0 to 49 employed persons A-U All economic activities 55,201 30,857 2,461 .
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing 1,628 762 62 .
B-E Industry (no construction), energy 12,486 6,487 519 .
B Mining and quarrying . . . .
C Manufacturing 12,023 6,259 501 .
10-12 Manufacture of food and beverages 561 226 19 .
10 Manufacture of food products . . . .
11 Manufacture of beverages . . . .
12 Manufacture of tobacco products 0 0 0 .
13-15 Man. of textile-, leatherproducts 152 81 5 .
13 Manufacture of textiles . . . .
14 Manufacture of wearing apparel . . . .
15 Manufacture of leather and footwear . . . .
16+23 Man of wooden and buildingmaterial . . . .
16 Manufacture of wood products . . . .
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 2022-2024 are revised provisional.

Changes as of 20 July 2026:
The revised provisional figures about 2024 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.

When will new figures be published?
Mid 2027 the figures about 2025 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