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Talent as a scale lever

The Netherlands has a world-class talent pipeline but a weaker talent engine. The problem isn't attracting or producing talent, it's converting it into companies, jobs, and founders that stay.

01 — Position in brief

The Netherlands attracts and retains international talent better than almost anywhere in Europe, and produces some of the continent's densest technical and AI talent. The gap is conversion — too much of that talent sits in incumbents instead of startups, too many of our best founders build their next company abroad, our diversity gap leaves talent and returns on the table, and we're short of experienced operators who've scaled before. Our focus is turning density into companies, jobs, and founders who build their next thing here.

53.4%
International graduate retention — nearly double the EU average
Europe's #1
AI talent density across the continent
~600,000
ICT professionals — about 6% of the workforce

These positions are the talent priorities for the Techleap Community. This is based on research and insights from our community and is a living document, kept updated as new data or changes occur. This is the lens through which we assess what to prioritise.

02 — Seven things we think about

Density isn't the problem. Conversion is.

These are principles, not a ranked list — the numbering is just for reference.

53.4%
share of international graduates who stay in the Dutch labour market — nearly double the EU average.
Why it matters

Our international character is a measurable strength and a flywheel — people who stay bring networks, skills, and the diversity that strengthens innovation.

The challenge here

Fiscal and political uncertainty puts it at risk. When the 30% ruling was scaled back in 2023–24, the business reaction was immediate — and while neighbours like Belgium are sweetening their schemes, we're trimming ours.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
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10.9 /10k
10.9 AI professionals per 10,000 — Europe's highest talent density.
Why it matters

Attraction alone won't close the gap. The Netherlands can't just import talent — it has to build it, and reskill into the roles an AI economy actually needs.

The challenge here

Around 70% of AI talent works in incumbents rather than startups, and the country needs roughly 300,000 more technicians and IT specialists by 2030. The pipeline into young companies is too thin.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
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11
Dutch founder factories in Europe's top 250 — spawning ~140 alumni ventures.
Why it matters

Anchor companies like Booking, Adyen, and TomTom are the single biggest source of the next generation of founders. Keeping that engine running — and its output here — is critical.

The challenge here

Of alumni who go on to found their next company, only 31% start it in the Netherlands (vs 38% in Europe, 45% in the UK) — costing an estimated 20–25 high-potential startups a year. The constraint isn't talent supply; it's where the next company gets built.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
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~600k
ICT professionals — about 6% of the workforce, nearly double a decade ago.
Why it matters

Tech is now one of the fastest-growing parts of the Dutch labour market — growing at roughly twice the rate of the wider economy, with wages above the national average. It's a serious employer and taxpayer.

The challenge here

The contribution story rests on a narrowing base — new company formation has fallen roughly 38% from its 2023 peak, and too few startups make the jump to scaleup, where outsized job creation happens.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
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62%
of founders view Dutch labour regulation as worse than peer countries.
Why it matters

A startup can double headcount in a year, and for a small team a single long-term illness can threaten the whole business. The ability to adjust a team quickly matters more for them than for stable firms.

The challenge here

The 104-week employer-paid sick-leave obligation is an outlier (Germany: six weeks; Denmark: 30 days; Sweden: 14). We're not arguing to dismantle protections — we're arguing for a startup-tailored framework in the spirit of flexicurity.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
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8% / 5%
of companies have a female (co-)founder, of jobs — female-only teams capture 0.7% of funding.
Why it matters

A more diverse ecosystem is a bigger, better-performing one. The ecosystem is leaving talent and returns on the table.

The challenge here

The decisive gap is at first funding — female-only teams secure a fraction of the capital, and all-male teams are twice as likely to raise at Series A and beyond. At current rates, even reaching 20% women-founded scaleups would take over a decade.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
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21.6% v 24.1%
the Dutch scaleup ratio trails the European average — and is far behind the US.
Why it matters

The scarce input isn't engineers — it's people who have scaled a company from 50 to 5,000 before. Their absence is part of why Dutch companies scale more slowly and exit earlier.

The challenge here

Europe has deep technical talent but a thin bench of proven operators, and that bench is leaking to the US and the Gulf. The mid-level pipeline that should backfill it is under-built.

What we're doing about it
Short line on the Techleap programme or action for this area — copy to be supplied.
Explore the programme →
Where we put our effort

We have talent density,
let's turn it into an engine
that scales the economy.

DR
Dylan Richts
Head of Commerce · Techleap

Have a talent problem — or a solution you think we should support?

Get in touch · dylan@techleap.nl →