National investment institution to deliver greater scale and financial capacity

Invest-NL and Invest International provide the foundation for the new institution

The Netherlands faces a major investment challenge. Our future earning capacity and competitiveness are under pressure, while technological development, economic resilience and strategic autonomy are becoming increasingly important. Innovative companies and capital-intensive projects in particular often struggle to secure sufficient financing during the scale-up phase and when expanding internationally. To remain prosperous, innovative and resilient in the future, targeted, long-term investment is needed - especially where sufficient market-based financing is not forthcoming.

Invest-NL and Invest International therefore welcome the Government’s plans to establish a national investment institution. The integration of Invest-NL and Invest International, which is already under way, provides a solid foundation on which the new institution can build quickly.

We endorse the decision to focus investment in the Netherlands on digitalisation and AI, security and resilience, energy and climate technology, and life sciences and biotechnology. These areas are crucial to the Netherlands’ future earning capacity and align with the expertise that Invest-NL and Invest International have developed in recent years. As the Government also points out, there must also be scope to respond to new economic opportunities and emerging financing constraints. 

The announced € 3.3 billion is an important starting point. Together with the existing capital of Invest-NL and Invest International, this will create core capital of approximately € 6.6 billion. However, a substantial proportion of this has already been invested or committed. If the Netherlands wants to be able to finance larger investments on a structural basis, its financial capacity will therefore need to grow substantially further. To reach this scale, additional capital injections will be needed in the longer term, or the institution must be able to raise capital independently. The latter requires some form of guarantee. This is an internationally proven model (for example, KfW and Bpifrance) that enables public core capital to be deployed more effectively, makes larger and longer-term financing possible, and mobilises more private and institutional capital. 

At the same time, the investment challenge cannot wait for the formal establishment of the national investment institution. Companies and projects already have financing needs today. We therefore very much welcome the fact that, during the transition period, part of the additional € 3.3 billion envisaged will already be made available for investment through Invest-NL and Invest International. This will increase investment capacity while work continues on establishing the new institution.  

The national investment institution must also help make the currently fragmented and complex public financing landscape simpler and better connected. We would have liked a clear decision to have been made already to consolidate the national financing schemes as well. This is precisely where there is an important opportunity to reduce fragmentation and give entrepreneurs easier access to suitable finance. 

CEO of Invest-NL, Rinke Zonneveld: 

“The national investment institution will only be successful if entrepreneurs and investors notice that things are becoming simpler. Less fragmentation, greater financial capacity, and using public capital to mobilise far more private money. That is what the market needs and an important condition for actually delivering the investment agenda. Fortunately, we do not have to start from scratch. In recent years, Invest-NL has developed into the most active investor in the Netherlands in innovative, fast-growing companies. Establishing the national investment institution and integrating it with Invest International is the next necessary step up in scale to make the Netherlands more innovative, sustainable and resilient.”   

For an open economy such as the Netherlands, economic growth does not stop at the border; a large proportion of our prosperity is generated internationally. Dutch companies need access to international markets, talent and technology. European and international cooperation is needed to enable companies to grow and to strengthen our economic resilience and strategic autonomy. The national investment institution will therefore have both a national and an explicitly international mandate.  

CEO of Invest International, Melanie Maas Geesteranus:  

"Public investment is needed not only to bridge financing gaps, but also to safeguard strategic economic interests. This includes access to international markets, technology, energy, raw materials and international value chains that are important to businesses and the Dutch economy. The Netherlands must therefore strengthen what it does well and protect what makes it vulnerable. Invest International already provides finance where the market falls short. With the national investment institution, we can do this on a larger scale. In this way, we will strengthen both our future earning capacity and our economic resilience." 

The Government’s plans, together with the activities and expertise of Invest-NL and Invest International, provide a solid foundation. The priority now is to maintain momentum and, like other European investment institutions, give the institution the financial scope and instruments it needs to actually finance more innovative companies and projects.