Why The Netherlands
Strategic location
- Amsterdam’s strategic location provides many benefits, with Frankfurt, Paris, London, and Brussels only few hours away. The Netherlands is ranked first on DHL’s Global Connectedness, making it very attractive for businesses. Within 300 miles are over 170 million consumers, and within 600 miles are 244 million, roughly half of the EU’s single market.
Infrastructure
- Traveling to and from The Netherlands is made easy by its extensive infrastructure network. Amsterdam’s airport Schiphol is one of the largest in Europe, offering 320+ direct destinations. The rail network is one of the most advanced in Europe, while the Port city of Rotterdam boasts Europe’s largest port.
Fluency in English
- The Netherlands is a truly bilingual nation. English is universally spoken in schools and offices alike, alongside Dutch. Expats can easily navigate the city using English in the workplace, for study, and in daily life. In Amsterdam, nearly all administrative communications are also provided in English, as it is the second official language.
Business climate
- The Netherlands maintains a vibrant and competitive business environment, particularly focusing on attracting expats. This fosters a creative and innovative environment filled with ambitious professionals. Furthermore, The Netherlands maintains a strong clustering business environment, making it easy for companies to competitively position themselves within their industries.
Political stability
- The Netherlands maintains a very stable political status quo. The government functions as a multiparty parliamentary democracy, and in the recent general election, the dutch voters staved off the populist contender. According to the World Bank’s World Governance Indicator on Political Stability, The Netherlands holds a score of 0.93, one of the highest in Europe and higher than both France (0.27) and Germany (0.72).
Highly Skilled Labor
- The Netherlands maintains a relatively high level of educated residents, with the rate of young people expected to graduate with a secondary education or higher at 92% and rising since 2011 (42% at university level). In a European research project on the readiness and availability of skilled labour across Europe, The Netherlands scored the highest at 7.05, higher than both Germany (5.02) and the United Kingdom (5.62).
Main Competitive industries
Agriculture & Food
- The Netherlands fosters a vibrant and diverse agricultural industry. Behind the United States, the country is the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. It supplies a quarter of the vegetables that are exported from Europe. Furthermore, The Dutch are one of the most innovative countries in this industry, with many major companies operating R&D facilities in the Netherlands.
Chemical
- The Netherlands is home to more than 400 top chemical companies across the industry’s entire supply chain. In fact, 19 out of the 25 top chemical companies in the world maintain major operations in the Netherlands. Companies like LyondellBasell, SABIC, and Dow benefit from a formidable logistics infrastructure, access to important raw materials, world-class R&D institutes, and regional clustering.
Life-sciences & Health
- With its high-quality infrastructure for clinical research, competitive tax support measures, and strategic location, The Netherlands provides life sciences companies immense support in entering the European market. The country works hard to support this industry, investing more than €2 billion annually into R&D and offering a home to over 2,500 innovative life sciences and health companies and research organizations.
Energy
- The Netherlands believes strongly in the importance of the Energy industry and is has positioned itself as leader in the Offshore, Renewable and Smart Energy sectors. Continually strengthening its already strong position, The Netherlands offers world-class R&D facilities and remarkable incentive programs that support and stimulate energy innovation.
High-Tech
- Home to multinationals like Bosch, Tesla, Boeing, and Phillips, The Netherlands’ high tech industry is among the most innovative. This is due to the uniquely Dutch approach of openness towards research and innovation. Combined with its excellent business infrastructure and highly-educated workforce, The Netherlands presents itself as an ideal location for high tech business operation.
Logistic
- Logistical success is based on a combination of cutting-edge infrastructure, world-class service providers, and a competitive location. Herein, The Netherlands present itself as a formidable player. The country offers outstanding infrastructure capabilities in a central location in Europe and makes extensive use of Information Technology to deliversupply chain solutions.
Other Competitive Industries
Creative Industries
- Given the Dutch mentality to support innovation, it is unsurprising that the Netherlands hosts one of the most dynamic creative industries in Europe. Many innovation based businesses operate in Holland, such as graphic designers, software developers, and fashion brands. Over 172,000 people work in the Dutch Creative industry, producing €7 Billion annually.
Horticulture & Raw materials
- From Tulips to Gas, From FloraHolland to Royal Dutch Shell, The Netherlands proudly fosters vibrant horticultural and raw materials industries. The Netherlands’ flower industry alone is valued at over €10 billion annually, with Amsterdam hosting around 1,500 companies that provide 15,000 direct jobs to the economy.
Water
- Water is undeniably an iconic and fundamental aspect of Dutch culture. The Dutch have been working with and against water for centuries, lifting entire provinces out from below the sea. Therefore, it is unsurprising that Dutch water technologies and systems are exemplary and innovative, primarily focusing on safeguarding water and the environment.
Setting up your company
East-West Trade & consulting provides complete company set-up and business development services to companies and entrepreneurs seeking to establish themselves in the Netherlands. Our mission is to make this process as easy and smooth as possible and, in order to do so, attend to our clients’ needs through highly tailored solutions that include, but are not restricted to, the following services: