Dutch companies are spending more on research and development and information technology this year, according to researchers at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University.

Overall, investments in R&D have reached 4.3% of turnover in 2017, the researchers say. Investment in information technology has also risen, now accounting for 4.8% of turnover and the highest level since 2009.

‘Promising economic conditions and forecasts make companies more willing to invest in innovation,’ said professor Henk Volberda in a website statement. ‘It is also necessary in numerous sectors.

‘The rise of new technologies which are are forming the basis of the fourth industrial revolution (artificial intelligence, robotisation, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and 3D printing) mean firms are more willing to invest in innovation.’

At the same time, however, companies must also invest in the human side of their organisations, he said. ‘New earnings models and new products and services demand flatter organisational structures, new leadership, new skills and cleverer ways of working together,’ he said.

This year corporate spending on social innovation has fallen 2.8%, the research shows.