Netherlands (Holland)
What is the difference between "Netherlands" and "Holland"? Think of it like this: Netherlands - greater empire, Holland - small region
Where?
Bordering the North Sea on the west, and Germany and Belgium to the east and south, the Netherlands has become a major location for global technology leaders.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is one of the top three airports in Europe, offering direct flights to 14 North American cities and over 240 destinations around the world. There are a further five regional international airports and a soon-to-be-completed European freight line which will connect to all major European transport hubs. Seventy miles south of the Airport is the Port of Rotterdam, the largest port in the world in terms of tonnage.
Around 7,000 multinational companies have located in Holland in sectors such as new media, medical devices, biotechnology and logistics. Investors include Fujitsu, Cisco, IBM, Amgen, Acer, Lucent Technologies, Peoplesoft and Unisys.
Investors are attracted to a country which has among the highest number of Internet hosts per capita in Europe. The capital, Amsterdam, has the highest cable density in the world with 95% of homes linked to a television network that provides high-speed Internet and e-mail access.
Thirteen universities and more than 100 university-level higher vocational institutes annually take on more than 375,000 students. Of those, 32% participate in science programs and 34% pursue economics programs; creating a powerful workforce for the new economy.
Politics
2010: "After months of talks the Netherlands looks set for a minority government. The centre-right Liberal and Christian Democrat parties will rely on backbench support from the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, a far-right populist who is on trial for inciting hatred against Muslims.
Economy
Investment Promotion Agency:
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
Bezuidenhoutseweg 2
PO Box 20101
The Hague
2500 EC
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)70 379 8818
fax: +31 (0)70 379 6632
Places in Holland (Netherlands)
Eastern Netherlands
The Eastern Netherlands includes Enschede/Twente, Flevoland and Gelderland.
Enschede is a vibrant university city, it has become a favoured location for technology companies. The University of Twente plays a major role in the Park offering its expertise in fields such as telematics, biomedical technology, microsystems and lasertechnology. The Business Technological Center accommodates 50 small high-tech companies and offers central facilities, services and advice to these starting entrepreneurs (mainly spin-offs from the university and the Enschede College). The Park itself houses around 70 science companies and 90 business service enterprises.
Schiphol Airport can be easily reached in around half an hour by train or car. Flevoland has its own business airport at Lelystad.
Both Flevoland and Gelderland boast a range of attractive incentives to companies and are important call center and logistics locations.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
Bezuidenhoutseweg 2
PO Box 20101
The Hague
2500 EC
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)70 379 8818
fax: +31 (0)70 379 6632
Enschede
Enschede is a city located in Twente in the Netherlands. A vibrant university city, it has become a favoured location for technology companies.
Most companies are located on the Business & Science Park Enschede. The Park is located close to a motorway which connects the Dutch and German road systems. It has its own railway stop and Twente Airport is a fifteen-minute ride away.
The University of Twente plays a major role in the Park offering its expertise in fields such as telematics, biomedical technology, microsystems and lasertechnology. The entrepreneurial spirit of the “best University in the Netherlands” is present at the Park in the shape of the Business Technological Center (BTC) which accommodates 50 small hightech companies and offers central facilities, services and advice to these starting entrepreneurs (mainly spin-offs from the university and the Enschede College). The Park itself houses around 70 science companies and 90 business service enterprises.
A recent addition to the city was the opening of Telematica Instituut (TI), one of the top-four technological institutes in the Netherlands. The TI is a top research institute focussed on ICT and working closely with companies like Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs, CMG, KPN, the ING Bank, Rabofacet, Ericsson, Oc, NS, VNU as well as the Dutch universities of Twente, Delft and Eindhoven.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Erfurt (Germany)
Office for Promotion of Economy
Fischmarkt 1
Erfurt
99084
Germany
tel: +49 (0) 3 61 6 55 19 10
fax: +49 (0) 3 61 6 55 19 09
Gelderland
The Province of Gelderland is located in the center of The Netherlands. Gelderland has a highly developed road and rail infrastructure which links principal ports of entry in Europe (Rotterdam/Antwerp and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport) with markets throughout the rest of the continent. Situated on the main east-west transportation axis which runs from The Netherlands to Moscow through the Ruhr, Berlin, Warsaw and the Ukraine, Gelderland has become a major logistics hub.
As a result, one of the most important logistics infrastructure developments being planned and implemented in The Netherlands will be sited in Gelderland. The Multimodal Transport Center in Valburg is planned as a key component of the new freight rail line which will run out of the port of Rotterdam to Germany. The MTC will also be directly linked to international motorways and to the Rhine River. It will be the first inland port in Europe to be accessible to coastal shipping year round.
Flevoland
In 1986 Flevoland became the Netherlands newest and twelfth province.
The Province is a young and dynamic region in the heart of Europe. It has an excellent network of inland waterways, roads and railways and Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Schiphol Airports can be easily reached in around half an hour by train or car. Flevoland has its own business airport nearby Lelystad, the capital of Flevoland.
The Holland-Flevoland Business Zone, located on a major highway junction has attracted a number of overseas investors. Among them are big-name companies and organizations such as Lease Plan, Mitsubishi, the National Aerospace Laboratory, the Institute for Animal Science and Health (also known as ID-DLO), McCain, Six Flags and Giant. Space is supplied at a competitive cost, whether it is for value added logistics, call center activities, production or services and financial incentives are available under a special Economic Development Program.
Northern Netherlands
Northern Netherlands includes the cities of Groningen and Leeuwarden and borders Germany to the East and the North Sea to the north and west.
Cities
Groningen
Investment Promotion Agency:
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
Bezuidenhoutseweg 2
PO Box 20101
The Hague
2500 EC
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)70 379 8818
fax: +31 (0)70 379 6632
Groningen
Groningen is a city in the Netherlands offering short travel times to most major European destinations. Groningen Airport offers domestic and international business flights with two flights per working day to Rotterdam. There are regular rail connections to other cities in the Netherlands and to Bremen in Germany.
Groningen is increasingly becoming a location of interest for companies in the ICT and biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors.
The education system in North Netherlands produces a high percentage of well-educated people with the number of students in higher education well above the national average. The combination of a high number of graduates and relatively limited job vacancies means that there is a net surplus of available well-qualified labor.
The Groningen University, the Hanzehogeschool Hogeschool van Groningen and other professional and vocational education institutes offer a wider range of courses than anywhere else in the Netherlands. The city’s education institutes are at the forefront of introducing new ICT related courses - project management in new media and knowledge technology (together with the University of Bremen, Germany) are two of the courses currently being tested.
To assist in the growth of the biotechnology sector, BioMed City Groningen was established in 1997 to strengthen the profile of the city as the preferred location in Europe for biomedical companies, institutes and businesses.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Mr Jan Zuidema
N.V. Nom
PO Box 424
Groningen
9700
The Netherlands
tel: +31 (0) 50 521 44 17
fax: +31 (0) 50 521 45 20
Southern Netherlands
The Southern Netherlands includes Eindhoven, Limburg/Maastricht and Brabant.
Being the home of electronics giant Philips, Eindhoven holds a prominent position in the field of advanced technology. Besides the world renowned Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), there are several universities specializing in a range of high-tech areas.
Major sectors in the region are international service centers, medical technology, automotive, packaging and film. The IT/Telecoms base in the region is expanding at a fast pace with companies such as Oce and Xerox, as well the Vodafone setting up operations in the area.
The road network is well developed and gives access to the European highway system along with a railroad network, which provides frequent connections to Belgium, France and Germany. The major international airport is at Schipol in Amsterdam, other airports at Dusseldorf and Brussels can be reached within one hour's drive.
Other investors in the region include FUJI Photo Film, Ericsson, NV Organon Pharmaceuticals, Vtech Electronics, Boston Scientific, Metromedia Technologies and Medtronic.
Cities
Noord, Brabant, Limburg, Eindhoven
Investment Promotion Agency:
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
Bezuidenhoutseweg 2
PO Box 20101
The Hague
2500 EC
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)70 379 8818
fax: +31 (0)70 379 6632
Noord Brabant
The province of Brabant is located in the southern part of the Netherlands. It is centrally located between Amsterdam and Brussels, Rotterdam (a major international port) and Antwerp.
Hertogenbosch is the capital of Noord-Brabant with other major urban areas in Eindhoven, Tilburg and Breda. The road network is well developed and gives access to the European highway system along with a railroad network, which provides frequent connections to Belgium, France and Germany. The major international airport is at Schipol in Amsterdam.
The region has particular strengths in the food and food processing, automotive, electronics and medical technology sectors.
DAF Trucks, Heineken and ASML have their corporate headquarters in the region which is also home to more than 1000 foreign investors. Investors in the region include FUJI Photo Film, Ericsson Telecommunications, Philips Electronics and NV Organon Pharmaceuticals.
Limburg
The province of Limburg is located in the Netherlands and surrounded by Germany and Belgium. Limburg’s position means that it is in the center of three major industrial areas: The Rhine-Ruhr area of Germany, the Antwerp-Brussels area in Belgium and the Randstad (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague) area in The Netherlands. The international airports at Dusseldorf and Brussels can be reached within one hour's drive from Maastricht-Aachen Airport, a regional airport. From this regional airport there are daily connections to Amsterdam and London Stansted.
Major sectors in the region are international service centers, medical technology, automotive, packaging and film. The IT/Telecoms base in the region is expanding at a fast pace with companies such as Oce and Xerox, as well the UK’s Vodafone setting up operations in the area.
Other investors include Vtech Electronics from China, Nissin Food Products, Nippon Carbide Industries Company, Boston Scientific, Metromedia Technologies and Medtronic.
The province of Limburg is home to a wealth of R&D and clinical facilities, four major universities, three medical schools and four university teaching hospitals. In Maastricht there are several research institutes such as CARIM (Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht) and NUTRIM (Nutrition and Environmental Research Maastricht)
All of these academic organizations have lead to a student population of more than 100,000 people; a willing workforce for any potential investor.
Eindhoven
The city of Eindhoven owes its growth largely to the lighting and electronics firm Philips. It has a population in excess of 200,000 inhabitants and 50,000 people from overseas resident in the city. Almost 25% of the workforce are employed in the electronics industry.
The region of Eindhoven holds a prominent position in the field of advanced technology. Hundreds of high-tech businesses, ranging from multinationals to suppliers are established here and form a solid economic basis. Eindhoven is a modern business center, but it is a place for students and researchers too.
Besides the world renowned Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), there is a multidisciplinary polytechnic, a pedagogical technical polytechnic, various institutes for technical and vocational training and an academy for industrial design. Eindhoven has about 20,000 students in all.
Eindhoven’s “digital city” initiative has created a thriving online business, cultural and social community.
Western Netherlands
Western Netherlands is one of the most dynamic regions of Europe. It is home to the thriving cities of The Hague, Rotterdam and the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
Bezuidenhoutseweg 2
PO Box 20101
The Hague
2500 EC
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)70 379 8818
fax: +31 (0)70 379 6632
The Hague
The Hague, situated in the Netherlands, links the financial center at Amsterdam and Europe’s largest port and distribution network at Rotterdam. The Hague's central business district is less than thirty minutes drive from Europe’s best airport (Schiphol) and Europe’s largest port (Rotterdam.) An excellent regional traffic infrastructure provides quick and easy access to the rest of The Netherlands, as well as the major cities of Germany, France, Belgium and Scandinavia.
While numerous and diverse industries are represented in South Holland, three main industry clusters can be readily identified. Those being; Aerospace and Defense, Information Technology and communications and Biotechnology.
In total, more than 800 international companies operate in The Hague region. Well known names include AirTouch, Alcatel, EDS, IBM, Software Spectrum, Toshiba, Smithkline Beecham and Ryder Corporation.
The Hague is also well-known for its multitude of international institutions, and has long been the center of international law between states. The United Nations International Court of Justice sits alongside Europol (European Police Agency,) Peace Palace (International Litigation,) European Patent Office (Patents) and ITC (aerospace survey and earth sciences)
Five universities are located within 50 km of The Hague including the Delft Technological University, University of Leiden and the Rotterdam Erasmus University. Both the Universities of Leiden and Rotterdam have joint programs with several American universities.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Ms Emmie van Halder-Eicher
HDF
J. van Oldenbarneveltlaan 34a
Den Hague
2582
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0) 70 322 8050
fax: +31 (0) 70 322 8564
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second city of the Netherlands and the biggest port in the world. Rotterdam has a European airport 10 minutes from the City Center and Amsterdam International Airport is only 45 minutes away.
Due to its geographic location and port facilities, the transport and logistics sector is a major one in the region. A number of specialist business parks and distriparks have been developed for companies looking to locate in an area which can offer direct connections to 300 cities.
Rotterdam has also seen its software, telecommunications and banking sectors thrive. The city is a base for a number of multinationals like Shell, Unilever, Nedlloyd, Progress Software, Intel and Autodesk . Companies from all over Asia have come to locate in international trade and distribution centers on the Rotterdam Euro Park. These centers, together with the International Business Center of Osaka, are acting as an 'incubator' supporting small and medium sized companies starting activities in Europe. Many Taiwanese companies, representing the electronics industry have already found their way into Rotterdam, making it one of the largest Taiwanese clusters in Europe.
The Erasmus university offers degree programs in Business Administration, Economics, Art History, Law, Social Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences. Another good source of labor supply is the Delft University of Technology.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Anita Sorensen
Rotterdam Office for Investment
401 East Pratt Street
Suite 2412
Baltimore
MD 21202
USA
tel: +1 (0) 410 625-2680
fax: +1 (0) 410 625-2684
Amsterdam
The capital of the Netherlands is one of the key cities of Europe and a major high-tech hub. Amsterdam Airport at Schipol is the fourth largest passenger and third largest cargo airport in Europe and is among the most highly rated in the world.
Amsterdam is known for its 'clustering' in areas such as the Amsterdam Science Park, with its six large research institutions, and the Matrix Building, a 'digital supermarket' with a host of high-tech companies. The Science Park is the home base for biotechnology and informatics in the region and offers an academic and research infrastructure for companies in the field of physics, mathematics and computer science.
Amsterdam Teleport is another business district where many pan-European call centers and shared service centers have set up operations. Companies with call centers or shared service centers in the region include Access Graphics, Imation, BT, Network Associates, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Getronics, NCR, Hewlett Packard, People Soft and Unisys.
The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AIX) is the largest Internet hub on the continent and one of the 10 most important Internet hubs worldwide. The AIX is used to exchange data on a national and international level by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The Dutch government also invested heavily in the Gigaport project. Gigaport has been set up to upgrade international Internet connections up to some tens of gigabytes per second.
With a strong science and technology base, two universities and more than 20 colleges and technical institutes, Amsterdam is a key player in the new economy and has attracted Microsoft, Dell Computers, Cisco Systems and @Home in recent years.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Mr Ron Boyle
Amsterdam Foreign Investment Office
Metropool Building
Weesperstraat 89
Amsterdam
1018 VN
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0) 20 552 35 36
fax: +31 (0) 20 552 28 60
Amsterdam Airport
Amsterdam Airport Area in the Netherlands is a location which offers investors easy access to the City of Amsterdam and connections to the rest of Europe within a three hour flying time. Schiphol Airport also offers flights to 109 intercontinental destinations.
Because of its strategic location, the Amsterdam Airport Area has attracted a large number of fast-moving, globally mobile companies with names such as Reliant, Nortel Networks, Ricoh, Seagate, Unisys and Microsoft taking up premises and benefiting from access to the Amsterdam pool of skilled labour.
The more recently constructed buildings in the Airport Area are specifically designed to cater for the needs of ICT companies with a state-of-the-art telecoms infrastructure and a glass-fibre system allowing companies to exchange data at high speed. This is facilitated by having service providers co-located on the site such as Telfort and Cityreach.
As well as being a base for European headquarters and sales operations, the Airport Area is also a magnet for distribution and logistics operators.
Investment Promotion Agency:
Leonie Campfens
Amsterdam Airport Area
PO Box 75700
Schiphol Airport
1118 ZT
Netherlands
tel: +31 (0) 20 405 4777
fax: +31 (0) 20 653 18 94
Utrecht
The province of Utrecht is part of the Randstad, a central region in Holland with a population of around seven million. The capital of the province of Utrecht is the city of Utrecht. From Utrecht, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport can be reached by car within 30 minutes. Utrecht is at the hub of the Dutch rail network and is effectively Holland's main rail terminus. All domestic and foreign rail links converge in the city.
Within Utrecht there is a high proportion of business-to-business service industries, and in particular IT software companies. The ICT sector is one of the most successful branches of industry in the province of Utrecht and there are a large number of leading companies represented, including; AT&T, Cap Gemini, Digital, Getronics, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Lucent Technologies, ICL, IBM, KPN, Origin (BSO), Raet, and J.D. Edwards.
The Utrecht region has two important universities. The University of Utrecht is the biggest in the Netherlands and Nijenrode University in Breukelen is internationally celebrated for the outstanding quality of its management and business administration courses.
There are a large number of research institutes in the region including the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute and the Institute for Applied Sciences (TNO). Providing approximately 18,000 jobs, these institutes make a major contribution to the development of knowledge and education in the Netherlands.
Maastricht
Maastricht is the capital of the province of Limburg in The Netherlands. Its geographic position means that travel across European borders is effortless with short travel times into Liege in Belgium and Aachen in Germany. Brussels, Dusseldorf and Cologne are no more than an hour's drive away. The two main growth sectors in Maastricht are the Information & Communications Technology and the medical technology sectors.
The province of Limburg can offer extensive clinical testing facilities to an overseas company, along with four major universities, three medical schools and four university teaching hospitals. Heerlen's De Wever Hospital (946 beds) is the largest teaching hospital in the Netherlands not attached to a specific university. Maastricht is also home to several cutting edge research facilities. They include Bioprime, CARIM (Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht) and NUTRIM (Nutrition and Environmental Research Maastricht)
There are a number of private research facilities in the area including Bakken Research which is part of the US Medtronic Corporation. Other medical companies located there include Boston Scientific, Medrad Europe, Axiom and Minntech.
The ICT base in Maastricht is also expanding with office equipment operators such as Oce and Xerox making Limburg a center for supplier activity. On another level, Palet Cablecom, the major multimedia concern has established its headquarters in Maastricht, expanding upon the variety of ICT skills and expertise in the region
Weert
The borough of Weert is located in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, close to Brabant and Belgium. Weert has an inter-city railway station with direct connections to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven and Maastricht. It is served by the nearby airports at Maastricht and Eindhoven.
Weert is particularly strong in the building, metal, electronics, printing, food and chemical industries and in transport. It has an industrial estate within the borough boundaries, Kampershoek, which houses companies in the business services and research fields.
Zeeland
Zeeland is located in between the two biggest ports in Europe - Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium. It is a province in the Netherlands and is connected to the rest of Europe by an excellent rail network. Zeeland is home to the fastest growing port area in the Netherlands.
As a result of this, the main driving force behind the economy is portbound industry, with developments underway to reclaim more land around the port areas for office and industrial occupation.
Dow Chemical has opened its largest plant outside the US in the area and Hoechst, Pechiney and the French oil company Total also chose the region for their operations.
Zeeland has a highly productive workforce to guarantee the requirements of foreign companies.
Noord-Holland
Northern Netherlands includes the cities of Groningen and Leeuwarden and borders Germany to the East and the North Sea to the north and west.
Haarlem
Haarlem is 15 minutes from Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It has the second largest inland rail terminal and road connections to the Central and East European markets, and also to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Southern Europe.
The chemical industry is important in the region and is based on the availability of huge amounts of natural rock-salt. There are 65 companies operating in the sector, with a combined turnover of 2 billion guilders and employing 11,000 people.
The biotechnology and medical technology sectors have also grown in size and importance. Currently 200 companies employ 6,000 people and export 90% of the total production of the sector. Another fast growing and developing sector is Information Technology and Telecommunication (IT&T)
Investors in the Haarlem region include Bioclear, Snowbrand, Dairy Products, MCA Development AKZO-NOBEL and FMC.
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