“The Netherlands is lagging far behind with investments in AI.

More and more Dutch startups are involved in the development of artificial intelligence (AI). But compared to other countries, that number is not increasing enough. This means that the Netherlands could miss the AI revolution.

This is what the national interest group for StartupDelta startups is doing in research into the development of artificial intelligence in our country. Director Nils Beers says it’s time for a national AI strategy. If we don’t start investing soon, we’ll miss the boat, says Beers. The research shows that last year, 102 million euros was invested in the establishment of startups around artificial intelligence. But according to StartupDelta, that is far too little.

Past investments

Compared to other countries, investments in the sector in the Netherlands are lagging behind. Whereas in the Netherlands 102 million euros went into AI-startups, in the United Kingdom it was 1.2 billion euros, in France 348 million euros and in Germany 243 million euros. In the view of StartupDelta, the Dutch investments are therefore far too low in relative terms.

There are currently 309 AI-starters active in the Netherlands. According to the startup interest group, this is only 3 percent of the worldwide number of AI startups. At the same time, the Dutch investment in AI startups amounts to only 1 percent of the global total. In view of the eighteenth position of the Dutch economy on a global scale, that should be more.

According to the study, the Netherlands is also lagging behind when it comes to the number of jobs. Within Dutch AI start-ups there is work for about 8,500 people, including 350 specialists. Last year, the number of jobs increased by only 287. This is low, especially when compared to countries such as the United States, where 9,000 specialists alone are active.

Make substantial investments

According to Beers, the Netherlands must therefore invest heavily in order to keep up with other countries. The Netherlands is an unimportant player on the playing field of artificial intelligence and has to invest heavily in order to be able to actually make money from this potentially very lucrative field of expertise.

We need a national AI strategy, Beers says. At the moment, foreign companies are hijacking Dutch AI talent, while at the same time there is a numerus fixus for AI studies. Knowing that this is one of the most important topics at the moment, this is a more than worrying development.