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

View full table Show description
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)
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing 2,526 2,154 271 .
B Mining and quarrying . . . .
10-12 Manufacture of food and beverages 2,483 2,227 306 .
15 Manufacture of leather and footwear . . . .
16+23 Man of wooden and buildingmaterial . . . .
17-18 Manufacture of paper and printing . . . .
18 Printing and reproduction . . . .
19-22 Refineries and chemistry 6,055 5,633 1,002 .
19 Manufacture of coke and petroleum . . . .
20-21 Chemistry and pharmaceuticals . . . .
24-25 Man. of basic metals and -products 1,282 1,095 156 .
26-27 Elektrical and electron. Industry . . . .
29-30 Transport equipment 2,641 2,063 188 .
29 Manufacture of cars and trailers . . . .
30 Manufacture of other transport . . . .
33 Repair and installation of machinery 283 230 22 .
E Water supply and waste management . . . .
G-I Trade, transport, hotels, catering 6,947 4,298 474 .
G Wholesale and retail trade 5,431 3,006 337 .
H Transportation and storage 1,482 1,281 136 .
I Accommodation and food serving 33 11 1 .
J Information and communication 16,046 12,641 1,213 .
58-60 Publishing, movie, radio and TV . . . .
59 Film, TV and music production etc . . . .
60 Programming and broadcasting . . . .
62-63 IT- and information services 9,504 7,375 808 .
72 Research and development 8,976 8,128 1,106 .
73-75 Advertising, design and other 766 682 58 .
73 Advertising and market research . . . .
N Renting and other business support 1,933 789 83 .
O-Q Government and care . . . .
O Public administration and services . . . .
84 Public administration and services . . . .
Q Health and social work activities . . . .
87-88 Care and social work . . . .
R Culture, sports and recreation . . . .
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