The Netherlands surpassed Switzerland and Germany as the most competitive economy in Europe. Worldwide, the Netherlands is in fourth place, after Singapore, the United States and Hong Kong, according to a comparison by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
According to the WEF researchers, "an entrepreneurial culture, flat organizations and growth of innovative companies" have made the Dutch economy much more agile.
A new study of senior managers at Dutch businesses found that firms in the Netherlands are spending far more than normal on training and developing their staff. The study also found that many of the business leaders were focused on improving sustainability, but that they were divided on the Brexit issue.
The Netherlands is no longer one of the five best performing economies in the world, according to the World Economic Forum's rankings. In this year's ranking, the Netherlands came in sixth place, dropping two spots from last year's fourth, AD reports.
The best performing economy of the 140 economies tested is the United States. Singapore came in second place, followed by Germany and Switzerland. Japan completes the top five.
Dutch companies are finally again investing more money into research and development. In 2017 R&D investment will amount to 4.3 percent of revenue, the highest level since 2012, according to figures Erasmus University released on Wednesday. Investment into IT will increase to 4.8 percent of revenue, the highest level since 2009. Last year R&D- and IT investment amounted to 2.1 and 2 percent of revenue respectively, NU.nl reports.
According to the university, the R&D and IT branches are important indicators of technological innovation.
For the second year in a row, the Netherlands has the most competitive economy in the European Union, and the fourth most competitive economy in the world, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Netherlands scored particularly well because of its strong base in, for example, infrastructure and macroeconomic policy, said Erasmus University - the WEF partner organization in the Netherlands, NU.nl reports.
