The province Drenthe invests in the digitization of the regional ecosystem. The aim is to help parties find each other and let entrepreneurs profit from it.

Pieter-Jan Snijders Projectleader Datahuis:  "Students and entrepreneurs don't look outside of their bubble. That's why working and entrepreneurship often happens outside the own region, even though there is a lot of knowledge inside the own region. That's why we map the ecosystem of innovation, entrepreneurship and education. In this way, companies that are so important for our region, are visible."

The base for this approach is the Datahuis. All available, provincial data comes together here. Data is enhanced with company profiles from Innovatiespotter.nl. In this way policy-employees and project leaders always have access to innovative companies. The data is also used for a Regio Deal project.

Stec Groep is a leading spattial-economic consultancy and is specialized in governmental issues. Since 2020 Stec Groep uses Innovatiespotter.nl to get better insights in innovative companies than traditional methods.

Evert-Jan de Kort, senior partner of Stec Groep: "Data forms the basis for a good answer for the questions we receive. However, data quality is a must. With the traditional company classifications, based on SBI-codes, the view of the regional economy remains cloudy. These classifications often differ greatly due to their static nature. It is exactly the dynamics in business that can not be captured via the SBI."

Stec Groep therefore uses de Innovatiespotter data for cluster analysis. This involves looking at where companies are in each others vicinity, for each innovation theme. For example, in the city centre, on business or science parks. Each cluster analyses show where the strong clusters are within a province, a region or a municipality are.

An increasing amount of research bureaus use the data of Innovatiespotter.nl for (spatial) economic research. Bureau Louter received the question of Gemeente Apeldoorn for a national research to a yet to be established Centre for Security and Digital Transformation.

A part of the research is to map the "cybersecurity-landscape". Innovatiespotter.nl supplies data about cybersecurity and Bureau Louter applies spatial statistics. In this way, they can measure where cybersecurity is a big part of the economy.

With this approach, they cut right through existing classifications in economic sectors. In this way, also companies in new technology field that are not visible with the SBI-classification can be spotted.

The research states that Delft and region Utrecht are the leaders in cybersecurity. The report has a lot of detailed information, because of collaborations between both organizations. In this way the "names and numbers"; individual company data, can be delivered.

Government initiatives concerning innovation and sustainability all search for the same companies, but all communicate via their own channel. They thus only reach a small part of the target group.

NDC mediagroep want to help governments with their communication strategies to reach these companies with help of data from Innovatiespotter.nl. This also helps companies; they gain better access to all regional innovation networks and other interesting programs through the online platforms.

How innovative is the Netherlands? To answer this question, the Ministry of EZK asked Innovatiespotter.nl and Statistics Netherlands to pool their expertise in a joint study into innovation at small companies. Until now, only the larger companies (more than 10 FTEs) were surveyed for innovation statistics. This is only a quarter of all companies in the Netherlands

An AI-model is developed to predict innovation for 1.5 million micro businesses in the Netherlands. The project delivered 30,000 innovative small enterprises. Innovatiespotter.nl then looked at the results of the AI-model. Which companies will find the model? Are they all really innovative?

The Ministry of EZK wants to further refine the research algorithm and has asked Statistics Netherlands and Innovation Spotter for a follow-up.

Read  More insight into small innovative companies in the Netherlands.

De Topsector Energie play an important role in the Netherlands to bring knowledge and companies together about wind energy innovations. The aim of using Innovatiespotter.nl was to identify unknown companies, in particular SMEs.

There are many more companies active in wind energy than just the manufacturers of wind turbines. Consider, for example, companies that supply parts, assemble, install, maintain, dismantle and recycle turbines. There are also many service providers in the wind industry, such as geologists, planners and consultancy firms for environmental analysis. Many of these companies in the chain were found by Innovatiespotter.nl.

The evaluation of an innovation scheme is usually carried out under the existing network of a client. Such an approach usually produces an unrealistic picture. A good investigation also requires a response from those who are not familiar with the scheme to be investigated.

Together with economic research and consultancy agency Ecorys we conducted research into a regional ERDF program for Smart industries and Circular Economy. The reason for the investigation was that interest in the program was rather disappointing. Innovatiespotter.nl contribution is to track down companies that fit into the scheme but are not known in the client's network. This gives the research an interesting angle. What do companies think of the subsidy schemes that they do not know at all?

It turns out that companies outside the client's network have a substantially less positive view of their subsidy opportunities. These companies think that they were not eligible at all for the program. The reason is that they do not recognize themselves in terminology such as “smart industries” or “circular economy”, nor did they feel addressed by the explanatory text.

The study resulted in a number of recommendations, such as better attuning communication to the target group. The use of Innovatiespotter.nl improves the reach of the target group.

RVO focuses on national innovation subsidies for all Dutch companies. It is important to reach the right target group. The usual media channels and networks did not provide RVO with sufficient response. RVO therefore asked the Innovatiespotter.nl to identify hightech companies. This is a highly fragmented sector, with very diverse activities, from IT to 3D printing, photonics, sensor technology, robotics and more. We have delivered about 7000 companies that approach RVO directly.

Economic Board Utrecht (EBU) builds coalitions of companies, governments and knowledge institutions. These new coalitions should lead to business cases that make life greener, healthier and smarter.

An assesment is made of regional companies on the themes of circular construction and demolition. Innovatiespotter.nl provided an overview of relevant companies from different sectors. The companies found contribute to the theme from their own perspective.

Monique Roso, research coordinator EBU Research:
We compared the results of Innovatiespotter.nl with the databases that we have made on circular construction and demolition. Our conclusion is that this search method clearly has added value compared to other methods and results in a larger network.

Sectors often use innovations that have been developed outside their own sector.  Bouwend Nederland has asked Innovationspotter.nl to identify examples of companies that are important to the construction industry on 8 themes. Think of 3D printing, biobased building materials, smart energy systems, the use of IT and AI, and more. Hundreds of companies have been identified that enable these transitions in construction

The Netherlands is known worldwide as an innovative country. In addition, we are a trading nation. By facilitating trade missions, the government can help companies to internationalize. But how do you find the top innovative companies to participate in such a mission? And, which companies want contact with foreign companies visiting the Netherlands during trade missions? Innovationspotter.nl was engaged for two trade missions to and from Israel and the Palestinian territories led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. This resulted in dozens of companies that had never participated in trade missions before.

Interested in what we can do for you? Contact us at: info@innovatiespotter.nl