Engine of growth: What Austria can learn from the Netherlands

weGrow International is based in Amsterdam, the founder and managing director is from the Mühlviertel region. Gernot Schwendtner (41) worked in the marketing department of OÖ Nachrichten when he was young and later set up his own business in the Netherlands. The business model for his current company emerged from the problems of his previous company: The start-up helps start-ups to grow internationally. For example WeTransfer, but also Austrian startups via the Born Global Academy of the Chamber of Commerce.

The start-up culture in the Netherlands also reflects the economy of a country that is half the size of Austria, has twice the population and is the fourth richest country. “The Netherlands has 1,800 start-ups per million inhabitants, three times as many as Austria,” said Austria’s business delegate for the Benelux countries, Michael Spalek, at a lecture on the occasion of the OÖN business trip, which was supported by the Volksbank, Moser Reisen and organized by the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce. The high-ranking delegation consisted of business people as well as representatives from politics and social partners.

“Entrepreneurship is a core value in the Netherlands. When it comes to digitization and international relations, they are ahead of most,” says Schwendtner. This in turn has grown historically. The lack of their own natural resources and selected goods made the Netherlands look beyond their own borders early on, paving the way for them to become one of the most important trading nations. They are the sixth largest exporter in the world.

This can be easily understood using the example of the flower trade. The largest international marketplace for flowers and plants in the world is located in Aalsmeer, a neighboring municipality of Amsterdam. As a visitor, you don’t get much of the trading itself anymore, the auction rooms are closed, everything works online. But in the halls, each with an area of ​​one square kilometer, 46 million cut flowers are handled every day. They come from Kenya or Ethiopia and go all over the world. Royal FloraHolland has an annual turnover of 5.6 billion euros. The question of the CO2 footprint, which arises in view of these trade flows, would of course be a story in itself.

But the Netherlands is not only strong in agriculture, but also in technology. Philips in Eindhoven gave rise to top companies such as the semiconductor machine manufacturer ASML and Signify. Philips itself is still a factor in medical technology. And in Noordwijk is the research center of the European Space Agency ESA, where the 3,600 employees include a number of Austrians. Austria’s Ambassador Astrid Harz accompanied the OÖN delegation to the ESA.

Leading as a financial market

The strength of the Dutch economy can also be seen in two other areas. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange has meanwhile overtaken London as the largest financial market in Europe. And the national debt is just 48.5 percent of the gross domestic product, which increases the political leeway to some extent.

This also uses him, says Spalek. According to the business delegate, one of the secrets of the Dutch success is that politics, business and science agree on concrete goals and pursue them consistently. The country is only occasionally on the brakes when it comes to tourism: Amsterdam restricts mass tourism in the city. Also to protect the quality of life of our own citizens, who have to pay a lot of money for housing anyway.

trading partner

Austria and the Netherlands maintain close trade relations. Austria exports goods worth 3.4 billion euros to the EU state and imports goods worth 4.8 billion euros.

A number of companies have a strong presence in the Netherlands. This ranges from the brick manufacturer Wienerberger, which produces for the numerous cycle paths, to Palfinger, Borealis, Red Bull and Welser TGW, which supplies trading companies there.