Holland Compared

High Tech Sector
New technologies for health, mobility, energy and security
• Holland’s high-tech sector is a world leader in the development of
new technologies and materials for use in communication
systems, aircraft and automobiles, medical devices, energy
generation and semiconductor production.
• Dutch companies invented WiFi, the CD and the DVD. Bluetooth
was invented by Dutchman Jaap Haartsen. And high-tech
equipment from Dutch companies are used in 90% of all silicon
chips produced worldwide.
• The Netherlands is strong in nanotechnology research. Dutch
publications in nanotechnology are the most frequently cited by
patents, compared to all other countries in the world. The country
ranks 3rd in citation impact.
• The Netherlands is also world leader in designing, developing and
making high-tech equipment and micro/nano components.
Characteristic features of this equipment are: highly intelligent
(embedded systems, software, sensors); very precise (nanoelectronics,
high precision manufacturing), and highly efficient
(mechatronics and smart electronics)
• Dutch multinational ASML is the world’s leading provider of
lithography machines for the semiconductor industry.
• In 2012 the export value from the HTSM sector was 45 billion
euros, and the added value 42 billion euros.
• The Netherlands has a world-leading position in the design and
manufacture of milking robots.
• In 2014, Tech United, a team from the Technical University
Eindhoven (TU/e), became World Champion Robot Soccer for the
second time at the RoboCup 2014 in Brazil.
TOP SECTORS IN FOCUS 57