{"id":500,"date":"2025-11-18T15:06:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationquarter.nl\/en\/?p=500"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:59:42","slug":"why-delft-and-leiden-stand-out-in-european-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationquarter.nl\/en\/updates\/why-delft-and-leiden-stand-out-in-european-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Delft and Leiden stand out in European innovation and what that says about our ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Something is happening in South Holland. Four fast-growing companies based in the province were recently included in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a leading ranking that assesses companies based on revenue growth, innovation level, ambition, and scalability. Q*Bird<\/a>, Zander Labs, LeydenJar, and Nearfield Instruments each stand out in their own way. Ideally, such companies scale within strong ecosystems, stimulating the emergence and growth of more startups. This creates a flywheel effect, where one success enables the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple sources were used for this article, including EE Index 2025, RIS 2025 and \u2018How South Holland Can Catch Up on R&D\u2019.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insight through structural benchmarks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To better understand the dynamics behind these company successes, we look at two structural benchmarks: the European Commission\u2019s Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS)<\/em> and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index (EE-Index)<\/em>, developed by Birch Consultants, Utrecht University and partners. Both reports offer valuable insights into how regions such as Delft, Leiden and Rotterdam perform in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship, while placing this performance in a broader European context. As the latest RIS states: \u201cRegions are key engines of a country\u2019s economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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