ICT in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is counted among the nations with the most advanced ICT infrastructure. The size of the ICT market in the Netherlands was Euro 30.9 billion in 2008 and is growing at a healthy rate of 4.5 percent. About 26,000 companies are involved with various ICT-related activities. They generate €29 billion or 5.5 percent of the country’s GDP and create employment for 250,000 people, or 3.5 percent, of the total workforce. The Netherlands is one of the tope five exporters of ICT services in the world. Besides services and software solutions, the Netherlands is strong in broadband connectivity, networking, security, storage, gaming, etc. and has a robust outsourcing model as well.

Strength areas

Wide access to high speed Internet broadband
High-speed Internet broadband is considered a pre-condition for a strong digital economy in Europe. In Europe, 80 percent of broadband lines now have download speeds of 2 megabits per second (Mbps) or greater, which allows the use of Web 2.0 and video streaming. In the Netherlands, about 40 percent of the population has broadband access. The Amsterdam Internet Exchange is the main Internet hub in the Netherlands and the largest and fastest in the world.

Telecom infrastructure

The Netherlands has perhaps the most sophisticated glass fibre telecom infrastructure in the world, supporting a large telecom and communications industry and coupled with its Internet prowess, making it the informational gateway to Europe.

Networking prowess

According to the Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009, the Netherlands ranks 9th in the world in its networked readiness,

Innovation and product development

Many inventions we treat as regular part of our lives—the compact disc (CD), wireless Internet, wireless headphones and Bluetooth, for instance—were invented in the Netherlands. The key strength of the Dutch ICT sector, and indeed the Dutch R&D and business environment, is the ability to turn existing technologies into innovative products and services that sell well. The government’s Innovation Platform initiative plays an important role in creating a business environment to encourage innovative activities. In the Netherlands, 70 percent of those activities are in ICT.

Enabling other industries

In addition to its stand-alone activities, IT is critical to enable other industries to innovate and perform. Today, IT contributes to 25 percent of the European Union’s GDP growth and to a 40 percent gain in productivity. In the Netherlands, it is clear that IT expertise plays a significant role in building and maintaining Dutch expertise in areas such as logistics, food technology, maritime construction and the creative sector.

Focus on the environment

The Netherlands ICT industry is also constantly evaluating the impact of the sector on the environment and seeking to mitigate it. Of the approximately 100 million kilograms of ICT waste generated every year in the Netherlands, nearly 97 percent is being recycled into new products.

Geographical location of ICT in the Netherlands

The lion’s share of the Netherlands’ IT business is concentrated in the Randstad area, comprising cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Noord Brabant, specifically Eindhoven also has a concentration of IT activity.

Business climate

Given its strength areas, the Dutch ICT sector is attractive to innovative and cutting edge ICT companies across the world. Well-known Dutch ICT companies like Centric, Altran and KPN Telecom along with many major international ICT companies like Seimens, TCS, Cisco, Dell Computer and Abaco International have already made the Netherlands their home.

The current government policy towards ICT aims to make the Netherlands the ICT gateway for Europe. In fact, Amsterdam is hosting the world 17th World Congress for IT (WCIT2010) in May 2010 (look at www.wcit2010.com for details)

Centres of excellence

NIRICT is the Netherlands Institute for Research on ICT and comprises all ICT research of the three technical universities in the Netherlands: Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, and the University of Twente. TNO ICT, located in Delft, is a unique centre of innovation in the Netherlands that brings together the ICT and Telecom disciplines of TNO, the Netherlands primary agency for applied scientific research.

Potential for Indian investors

The Netherlands is not new turf for Indian companies in the ICT sector. The big names—Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, Satyam, TechMahindra and Patni—are already present there and so are a slew of smaller companies, including Nucleus Software, 01Synergy and FourSoft Technologies. The Netherlands provides a logical base for servicing customers spread across Europe in terms of physical and virtual connectivity. Moreover, the Netherlands offers a special scheme for highly skilled migrants to be able to get a residence permit. Companies can avail of this scheme, via a simple process, to send their Indian and non-EU employees to work in offices and subsidiaries based in the Netherlands.

Explore your opportunities

If you are an Indian company with interest in setting up operations in the Netherlands, contact the NFIA for assistance.
Look at success stories of Indian companies that have already explored the Netherlands as a partner in their ICT business:
01 Synergy
Nucleus Software
Polaris Software
Mindteck
TCS
Vayam Technologies
Wipro