How many students earned college degrees? How much money have companies invested in research and development? And how many over-75s use the Internet daily? Since Feb. 11, 2025, the CBS website has featured an attractively presented "trinity" about digitization and the Dutch knowledge economy that both answers these kinds of questions and provides in-depth information. It includes a dashboard, publications and a dossier.
Up-to-date, clear, accessible. But also: very broad and very in-depth. All these qualifications apply to three new and related CBS products in the field of digitization and knowledge economy. The dashboard, publications and dossier replace the publication 'ICT, knowledge and economy' that has been produced annually since 2011. 'Most of the figures have been maintained within CBS for years, but we are pleased that we have now found a new form of presentation,' says Bart Klijs. He is project manager and researcher with team Culture, Tourism and Technology. That team worked with other teams on the improvements in 2024.
Klijs explains: "There are two major advantages. The first is the improved and more organized presentation. We hope to increase the reach and target group as a result. Our aim is that we can now serve more people - from government policy makers to interested Dutch people - with the data. The second plus point is that from now on we are more flexible: we can more easily add new figures in between. Previously, there was one time each year when all the data were published online, after which it was a year of waiting for the next release.'
In 2024, many more over-75s used the Internet daily than in 2012: 75 percent instead of 16 percent. Furthermore, the number of companies applying artificial intelligence increased significantly in 2024. In 2023 it was 14 percent, a year later it was 23 percent. This kind of information can be seen at a glance in the Digitalization and Knowledge Economy dashboard. Renske Verweij, researcher in Policy Statistics at CBS, built the dashboard. She says, "It is a website on which you find interactive figures. By interactive we mean that as a user you can select subjects, periods and groups. For example: how many individuals made online purchases between 2014 and 2024? Or: how many companies had staff working with the Internet between 2022 and 2024? And how many students were in science education between 2015 and 2024? In this way, you can quickly and easily get an overview through the years, so that certain developments stand out sooner. An example is the proportion of employees who use the Internet while working. That has increased from 34 percent in 2002 to 82 percent in 2024.'
The dashboard, publications and Digitalization and Knowledge Economy dossier highlight six themes. The first three deal with digitization: ICT use among individuals, ICT use among companies, and ICT & economy. ICT use among individuals can include the number of people who send e-mails and text messages, for example via WhatsApp. An example of ICT use among businesses is whether employees telecommute. ICT & economy includes the number of ICT employees in the Netherlands.
Klijs mentions the three themes that deal with knowledge economy. 'In a knowledge economy, knowledge is important. Knowledge is built in education, and that is what the theme of knowledge potential is about. How many people graduate from mbo, vwo and secondary education? Another theme is research and development (R&D), or research and development by companies, institutions, higher education and university medical centers. How much money was spent on R&D? How many labor hours were involved? The final theme is innovation: for example, how many companies innovated?
Whereas the dashboard is made for the user who quickly wants to see specific figures, the publications section Digitalization and Knowledge Economy is intended for in-depth content. For this purpose, an annual overview article is written and more in-depth publications are offered, often focusing on a specific subject, such as cybersecurity and online platforms.
Klijs: 'These are articles written by CBS colleagues about subjects that are briefly discussed in the dashboard. They clarify the figures. The range is broad; for example, there is also a publication about following technical subjects in education. What is the difference between boys and girls and does the parents' education influence the choice of subjects? The Digitalization and Knowledge Economy file collects all publications. It is a website where the user can easily find his way to an article on the subject he wants to know more about.
Verweij and Klijs are pleased with the dashboard, the publications and the Digitalization and Knowledge Economy dossier. Klijs: 'The whole gives depth to the figures, but is also clear and accessible. Thanks to good cooperation within CBS, the data are shown to their full advantage in this way.
The data in the dashboard, publications and the Digitalization and Knowledge Economy file cannot be traced back to individuals or companies. The data were collected through CBS surveys, among others; for example, people completed a questionnaire about their Internet use.
Dashboard - Digitization and knowledge economy
Publication - Digitalization and knowledge economy 2024
