12 december 2025
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Today, Peter Wennink, the former CEO of Dutch innovation powerhouse ASML, presented his long-awaited and urgent report: The Road to Future Prosperity, A Strong Netherlands in a Relevant Europe. Introducing four preconditions and four focus domains for Dutch competitiveness, the report will serve as an important building block for the new Dutch government that is currently being formed. In his analysis, the “Dutch Draghi” calls for bold investments and decisions to safeguard the future resilience and growth of the Dutch economy. Wennink advises to simplify rules, focus on talent and excellent education, create an abundance of clean and cheap energy and invest in infrastructure and ecosystems.
Tasked by the current Dutch government, former ASML CEO Wennink publishes his recommendations on the future of the Dutch economy. He also looked at Mario Draghi’s recommendations to understand the implications for the country. In his report, the Dutch Draghi outlines four preconditions that must be met to excel in four key areas that are crucial for Dutch competitiveness. Wennink asks to simplify rules, focus on talent and excellence, clean and cheap energy and investments in infrastructure and ecosystems. More economic growth, investments and reforms are needed for the coming societal and economic transitions and to guarantee Dutch prosperity in the near future. His report identifies several long-awaited reforms that need to push the innovative capacity of the Dutch economy. Wennink stressed that the urgency is high and action is needed in the short-term. He stressed that in the next 10 years a minimum of 150 billion euro is needed. Experts from the Dutch knowledge sector and from the innovative industry contributed to the report.
In his presentation, Wennink stressed that the Netherlands needs a relevant Europe to thrive. He compared Europe to China and the US and concluded that we switched from “being producers to being consumers.” The R&D expenses are too low and there is not enough venture capital to scale-up innovations. Wennink points out that only four out of the fifty biggest tech companies are European. Additionally, the EU is only competitive in four out of fourteen key technologies. Europe is falling behind and needs to step up its game. He mentioned Horizon Europe and the European Competitiveness and Innovation Funds as positive examples showing a clear return on investment. Once the four preconditions are met, the Netherlands can excel in four key areas; digitalisation and AI, security and resilience, energie- and climate technology, and life sciences and biotechnology. Wennink noted that everywhere in the country, there are companies, knowledge institutions, and skilled professionals, ready to contribute to a future-proof Netherlands, where innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge mutually reinforce one another.
The report called on a renewed focus on excellence in the Dutch education system. The performances are lacking and the Netherlands is falling behind on the international PISA and OESO ranking. His advice is to focus on excellence, basic skills and STEM education. Wennink also stressed the importance of LifeLong Learning and reskilling of the Dutch workforce as a counter to rapid digitalisation. Ambitions clearly overlapping with the European Commission’s Union of Skills agenda. He advised a positive mindset to attract talent from abroad to create new regional innovation ecosystems and knowledge centres to improve the Dutch economic productivity.
The Wennink report comes at a time when Dutch political parties are busy negotiating to form a new government. The report is expected to be a building-block for the new Dutch political agenda and reforms. Wennink was tasked by the current Dutch government to model it on the famous Draghi-report, as it’s an important guideline for the current political agenda of the European Commission.
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