Why WestHolland?
With almost 500 million residents, and a purchasing power second to none, Europe is one of the world's most important business and consumer markets. Dutch know-how and expertise in international trade and commerce make WestHolland an ideal location from which to access this lucrative market.
WestHolland includes the cities of The Hague, Leiden, Delft, Zoetermeer and Lansingerland, and is home to many international companies and organizations, as well as the Dutch national government. With two major airports and Europe's largest seaport in the direct vicinity, WestHolland is ideally located for doing international business.
Skilled, multilingual labour force
Availability of a well educated labor force is a top priority for international companies. WestHolland boasts one of the best educated and most multilingual labor forces in Europe; 78% speak English, 57% speak German and 14% speak French. International surveys regularly give The Netherlands top marks for employee output and low number of days of work interruption. WestHolland, centrally located in the heart of one of Europe's largest urban agglomerations totaling a population of over 7 million residents, provides a sizeable labor pool from which to recruit personnel. Finding well qualified staff is made easier thanks to the presence of world renowned colleges and universities.
Quality of Life
Situated on the shores of the stunning North Sea, the region enjoys a variety of reasonably priced housing options, in beautiful historic towns and cities as well as in spacious residential areas. Combining the leisure and entertainment opportunities of a larger metropolitan area with outstanding natural beauty, the quality of life in WestHolland is particularly satisfying. The thousands of international residents who call WestHolland home enjoy excellent expatriate amenities including access to numerous international schools, churches and social clubs.
Dutch Tax advantage
The Netherlands has a very competitive tax regime, aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship and foreign investment in
The Netherlands. Among its features are:
• Corporate tax rate of 25.5%;
• A far-reaching international tax treaty network;
• A system of bonded warehouses ensuring duty is only paid
on re-export of products;
• Efficient tax authorities that handle your business with speed;
• Advance tax rulings, whereby a company's future tax
liability is agreed upon in advance;
• Key personnel may be eligible for 30% personal tax ruling.
Marketing and Sales Offices and Headquarters operations
In addition to the availability of qualified staff and competitive tax benefits, another strategic advantage of West Holland is the excellent selection of Business Centers, with rental terms starting at only one month. This option gives you maximum flexibility, particularly in the start-up period. Access to your European customers is facilitated by a particularly modern and efficient transportation and communications network.
Research and Development
WestHolland boasts a variety of high-quality, dedicated research and development business parks, including the Leiden Bio Science Park, Science Port Holland in Delft, and the Space Business Park in Noordwijk.
The critical mass of academic institutes, research organizations and industrial partners including top-end laboratory facilities, combined with national tax incentives for innovative R&D, offer technology-focussed companies a particularly supportive business environment.
WestHolland's R&D centers are clustered around Leiden University, one of the leading universities in Europe in the field of life sciences, and Delft University of Technology, which is ranked among the top technological universities worldwide.
The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) offers top-level contract research facilities and support in a variety of industrial sectors.
WestHolland provides excellent access to European markets. Located just 30-minutes drive from both Amsterdam International Airport and Rotterdam, Europe's largest seaport, the region has an excellent transportation infrastructure. Superior train connections combined with its location at the crossroads of three major international highways give businesses in WestHolland maximum flexibility for travel within Europe and around the world.
One region, five cities
The region's five unique cities – Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Zoetermeer and Lansingerland – and the surrounding 30 municipalities, offer a wide range of opportunities for businesses.
Fact-finding visit
The WestHolland Foreign Investment Agency (WFIA) is a government-funded agency that assists and advises inter international companies with locating and staffing their European national operations. The Account Managers of the WFIA will gladly provide information about the region, and they are ready to assist you and discuss your European plans.
WFIA will organize a free fact-finding visit for companies that are interested in exploring the opportunities in WestHolland. A customized program is prepared for each client according to their requirements to make best use of their visit. Subjects that can be dealt with during a fact-finding tour include: legal aspects about establishing a company, tax regulations and rulings, recruitment of staff, and business locations. Some of the contacts you could meet include key government representatives, potential business partners, relocation advisors, international school contacts, and real estate professionals who can help you to locate housing. When looking to expand in Europe, consider WestHolland!
Key sectors in WestHolland
Life Science and Biotech
WestHolland is strong in the fields of life sciences and biotech. For example, the Leiden Bio Science Park is home to the largest concentration of life sciences activities in The Netherlands, and among the top bioscience parks in Europe. Pioneering companies such as Janssen Biologics, Pharming, Crucell, Astellas and DSM are producing groundbreaking medicines.
Several centers of academic research in the areas of drug discovery, industrial biotechnology and medical technology are located here. Delft is the proud home of the Kluyver Center for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation and a number of medical technology companies, such as Toshiba Medical Systems, Dräger, Atos Medical and PharmaPack are located in Zoetermeer.
IT and Telecom
The presence of world leading companies like KPN, T-Mobile, O3b, ZTE, SES World Skies, Mahindra Satyam, Samsung and Siemens contribute to the solid IT and Telecom cluster in WestHolland. The close proximity to authorities for potential tenders, and the presence of academic and high-tech research institutes in Delft and Zoetermeer, underline WestHolland's unique advantages in IT and Telecom.
Oil and Gas (Energy)
WestHolland provides excellent operational infrastructure for the Oil and Gas sector. Close proximity to the seaport of Rotterdam and two major airports, combined with the international business climate, have attracted some of the world's largest petrochemical and related businesses, such as Royal Dutch Shell's Centre of Excellence for Worldwide Exploration and Production, Aramco, Q8, Jacobs Engineering, Heerema Offshore, Taqa Energy, Total and Chevron.
Safety and Security
Being among the top four UN cities in the world, The Hague has established a strong reputation in the field of Peace, Justice and Security. The European Law Enforcement Organization
(Europol) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as well as many innovative companies like Fox-IT, E-Semble and Thales are located in WestHolland.
To promote collaboration and innovation in the field of national and international security, The Hague Security Delta, a network of security organizations and companies was established.
Agribusiness
WestHolland houses a surprisingly large amount of indoor and outdoor agricultural activities. Highly innovative cultivation techniques combined with an efficient logistics network make WestHolland 'the greenhouse capital of the world'. Among companies already located in WestHolland are Dusart, Monsanto and Syngenta. Leading agricultural research and academic facilities in the region include Wageningen University's Research Center for Greenhouse Horticulture, The Improvement Center for optimal cultivation processes, and Leiden University's Faculty of Plant Cell Biotechnology.
Water and Delta technology
The water technology cluster covers many disciplines, such as waste and drinking water management, delta technology, water energy and groundwater hydrology. Thanks to the research taking place at the Delft University of Technology, a cluster of specialized companies and organizations in water management have located here. These include Fugro Global Headquarters (ranked among the top 10 of Geoscience companies in world), the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), the International Water Association (IWA), Deltares Institute for Delta Technology, and the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.
