WBSO Annual Report 2025: key trends in Dutch R&D and what they mean for innovators in 2026 and beyond

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has recently published Focus on Research & Development, its annual WBSO report for 2025. For organisations running R&D in the Netherlands, it’s one of the clearest yearly readouts of where national innovation effort is heading.

This year’s picture is nuanced: a record €8.7 billion in approved R&D costs, a clear shift towards AI, semiconductors and clean energy, and a user base that is slightly smaller but more capital-intensive. In this article we highlight what stands out, what it means, and what innovators should keep in mind for 2026.

Key takeaways from the report:

• €8.7bn in approved R&D costs (record) and €1.9bn in WBSO fiscal benefit.
• Participation and approved labour years declined modestly, while costs rose: average R&D intensity per company is increasing.
• Non-labour costs reached €3.5bn (>40% of the total): R&D is moving from laptop to lab, pilot line and cleanroom.
• Strong five-year growth in quantum, AI, semiconductors, hydrogen and cybersecurity: deeptech + energy dominate.
• More starters, even as the overall user base contracts: the innovation pipeline remains healthy.
• R&D remains geographically concentrated, with Noord-Brabant leading in approved R&D costs.

 1) What do we see in the reported numbers

Record costs, smaller group, higher intensity

In 2025, 18,932 companies used the WBSO. Of these, 97% were SMEs and 2,389 qualified as starters. Together, they received €1.9 billion in fiscal benefit on €8.7 billion in approved R&D costs, which was the highest level ever recorded for the scheme.

This shows a record investment in innovation, but more precisely, that a record amount is being invested by a slightly smaller group of companies. The number of participating firms, approved labour years () and approved projects declined modestly, while total costs increased.

This signals that the average R&D effort per company is rising, with larger programmes, more infrastructure, and longer development cycles.

R&D is shifting into labs, pilots and production environments

The cost composition tells the same story. Last year, non-labour costs (materials, consumables and capital investments) reached €3.5 billion, accounting for more than 40% of total approved R&D costs.

That is a clear indicator of research that has moved into the lab, the pilot line and the cleanroom. It is hardware, energy, materials, production processes and biotech, not software alone. It also reflects a more advanced stage of development: prototyping, testing, qualification, and the first steps toward scale.

For innovators, the implication is clear: funding strategies need to fit capex-heavy R&D. Instruments that primarily support labour costs remain essential, but they are rarely sufficient on their own for pilot and scale-up phases.

 2) The trends worth tracking: AI, clean energy and deeptech enablers

The five-year trend by subtheme is where the market insight sits. Growth in labour years over the last five years:

• Quantum: +120%
• Artificial Intelligence: +77%
• Semiconductors: +59%
• Hydrogen: +55%
• Cybersecurity: +49%
• Energy storage: +37%
• Solar energy: +25%
• Mechatronics: +21%
• Wind energy: +15%

Three clusters dominate:

1. AI and digital security (AI, cybersecurity)
2. Clean energy technologies (hydrogen, storage, solar, wind)
3. Deeptech enablers (quantum, semiconductors, mechatronics)

These are also the domains where European and national innovation budgets increasingly concentrate, which means the alignment between fiscal R&D support and the broader funding landscape is becoming tighter year by year.

Two details many summaries miss

First, the number of starters went up, from 2,049 in 2024 to 2,389, even as the overall user base contracted. That’s an important signal: the pipeline of new innovative companies remains healthy.

Second, the geographic concentration is striking: Noord-Brabant alone accounts for 2.5 billion euros of approved R&D costs, 29 percent of the national total, ahead of Zuid-Holland (18 percent) and Noord-Holland (17 percent). It underscores the strength of regional innovation ecosystems, particularly in high-tech manufacturing and semicon-adjacent value chains.

By technology area, mechanical engineering remains the centre of gravity with 24,583 labour years and 2.2 billion in approved costs, while ICT leads in company count at 5,838 firms, roughly a third of all participants.

3) What the WBSO delivers in practice in 2026

The WBSO reduces R&D costs through a payroll tax credit applied across two brackets. The 2026 parameters are broadly unchanged, with one adjustment that slightly favours applicants.

• First bracket: 36% benefit on the first €391,020 of the combined base (labour + other eligible costs).
  • Starters: 50% in the first bracket.
• Second bracket: 16% above the threshold.
• The first-bracket ceiling was raised from €380,000 to €391,020 for 2026 (indexation), giving slightly more room at the higher rate.
• Total WBSO budget 2026: €1.817 billion.

For self-employed entrepreneurs who spend at least 500 hours per year on R&D, there is a fixed deduction of €15,979 in 2026, with an additional €7,996 for starters.

In practice, the scheme can return a meaningful portion of eligible R&D costs, which is why it remains the foundation of many Dutch R&D financing strategies.

4) What innovators should keep in mind

Treat WBSO as the baseline, not the destination

The WBSO covers the entry layer of an R&D budget well. For capital-intensive innovation, the real leverage usually comes from combining instruments: WBSO as a stable foundation, complemented by national and regional schemes and—where relevant—European programmes for demonstration and scale-up. A portfolio strategy tends to capture more value than an instrument-by-instrument approach.

Timing and administration determine the final benefit

Applications must be filed before a project starts, and a project runs for a minimum of three months. The quality of the project cription matters: it has to be technically sound while making the innovative steps clear. This is where applications most often go wrong. Equally important is the S&O administration you keep through the year, since your final benefit is set on the basis of realised hours and costs reported to RVO by 31 March of the following year.

Watch policy direction, especially relevant for young companies

Policy discussions increasingly track the growth themes in the data (notably AI). There are also proposals being explored that could improve usability for start-ups and scale-ups that cannot fully offset the benefit in early stages. These developments are not always final immediately, but they can matter for multi-year planning.

5) Conclusion: stable scheme, changing innovation profile

On the surface, the WBSO story for 2025 is steady. The scheme continues to do what it was designed to do. Underneath, it is a leading indicator. Dutch R&D is becoming more concentrated, more capital-intensive, and more closely aligned with the sustainable deeptech themes shaping European industrial policy in the coming years.

For companies operating in that space, the question is rarely whether the WBSO fits. It almost always does. Rather, the question is how it sits inside a broader, multi-instrument financing strategy that matches the scale and ambition of the underlying innovation.

Want to connect your WBSO plan to a broader funding roadmap for 2026?

If you want to understand how the WBSO and the wider funding landscape apply to your R&D programme, Catalyze can help you build a coherent strategy and strong applications from WBSO and national schemes to European pathways. Get in touch to discuss your plans.