Dutch cities and regions are competing with each other to attract foreign firms, leading to a lack of coordination and efficiency, according to a report by the Buck consultancy group and quoted by the Financieele Dagblad.

Buck calculates there are 74 ‘campuses’ in the Netherlands which local authorities hope will attract foreign investment. But better coordination by central government in terms of regional economic initiatives would improve the results, the consultancy says.

It would also concentrate industry in particular areas, meaning that companies too will benefit from greater efficiency.

‘Every council thinks it needs a ‘campus’ for knowledge-intensive industry but not every local authority area can have its own Silicon Valley,’ Utrecht human geography professor Oedzge Atzema told the paper.

A lot of money is being invested in these ‘valleys’, said Maarten Burger of Erasmus University. But not all regions are suitable for all activities, he said. ‘You have to be able to embed a company in the local economy,’ Burger told the FD.