Labour years R&D

The figures presented in this article refer exclusively to R&D activities carried out by the private sector in the Netherlands. To facilitate international comparison, R&D-activities conducted by universities have not been taken into account (42 thousand labour years in 2007).

The number of labour years is the number of employed persons entirely or partly engaged in R&D-activities converted to full-time equivalents (FTEs). The figure for 2007 for the current 27 EU member states has been estimated by Statistics Netherlands.

In the surveys conducted by Statistics Netherlands, staff engaged in R&D is subdivided into:
researchers: scientifically educated persons involved in research, including staff employed at management level
(technical) assistants: persons co-operating at a high level under supervision of scientific researchers.
other personnel: maintenance, office, secretary and/or office personnel directly involved in R&D.