The Netherlands has an above average score in the EU when it comes to innovation but still lags behind the world’s top performers such as Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Japan.

According to the EU’s annual survey, the Dutch do particularly when it comes to spending on IT (7.6% of gross national product compared to the EU average of 6.4%), broadband coverage (22% compared to EU average of 10.6%), employment in the high-tech sector and the number of registered patents.