Urban expansion centres attract ICT starters

Most new ICT and content companies set up business in municipalities where such companies are already located. This has led to increasing local concentrations of ICT and content companies in recent years.

Degree of concentration increasing

Most ICT and content companies in the Netherlands started operations in the period 1996-2001. In 1996 fewer than 2 percent of all companies in the Netherlands were ICT companies. In 2003 this share was 3 percent. In the period 1996–2001 every tenth new company in the Netherlands was an ICT company.

New ICT and content companies in the Netherlands located their premises in municipalities where such companies were already present, thus increasing the degree of concentration. Apparently the infrastructure put in place for the ‘old’ ICT and content companies is also lucrative for newcomers in this sector.

Clusters in expansion centres

ICT and content companies tend to cluster when the location coefficient of companies in a municipality is higher than the national distribution. Amsterdam and Eindhoven have a high location coefficient. They are among the municipalities with the highest location coefficient for new ICT and content companies. They are also among the municipalities with the highest degree of concentration. This indicates that they play an important role in production by the ICT and content sector.

The urban expansion centres Almere, Houten, Zoetermeer and Nieuwegein also attract many new ICT and content companies.

Kaart locatiecoëfficiënt ICT-bedrijven per gemeente, 1996–2001

Kaart locatiecoëfficiënt contentbedrijven per gemeente, 1996–2001

Jeroen Devilee and Vincent Fructuoso van der Veen