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ZUID HOLLAND
GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY
 South Holland is the Netherlands' largest province and one of the most densely populated regions in the EU. It is situated in the western Netherlands and it looks onto the North Sea. The main cities in the province are Rotterdam, which boasts the world's biggest seaport, The Hague, centre of international law, seat of the national government and provincial capital, and the university towns of Leyden and Delft. The region covers an area of 2.818 square km, having a total population of 3.453.000 inhabitants, with a density of 1.207 inhabitants per square km.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The region has a good number of infrastructures, with highways, railroads and ports (the Rotterdam one is one of the most important of all Europe).
ECONOMY
 South Holland takes a major share of the Dutch economy (23% of GNP, a quarter of gross investment in the Netherlands and 30% of the country's gross exports). More specifically the regional GDP (in Mill. EUR) is 92,465 and the per capita GDP is 26.946. Important sectors include the transport and trade sector, the oil refinery and chemical industries, the transport equipment and metal industries, the manufacture of instrumentation, the food, drink and tobacco industry and building. Most industrial activities are concentrated in the south.

Always very active in the field of commerce, thanks to the Rotterdam port the region is one of the main gate (for people and goods) of all Europe. Horticulture (cultivation under glass, bulb growing and tree culture) are highly advanced and export-oriented, and, in general, a lot of great foreign companies have established a head office in the region (Rotterdam and The Hague) .

An fast growing Life and health science sector is linked to the universities of Leyden, Delft and Rotterdam. The Hague is city of international justice, peace and security and has a lot of international institutions within its borders In the South of the region there is an very advanced en export oriented dredging and hydraulic engineering sector.

LABOUR MARKET
 With about 1,500,000 employees the region has an high rate of employment. Unemployment is rather low (6.6 %), which is well below the European average. Regarding sector based data, we have: 36,000 people employed in the agricultural sector, 661,000 in the industrial sector (including construction, trade and transport), and 788,000 in services (commerce, public administration, etc.)
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The total research and development spending in the region is around 1.600 (Mill. EUR), divided into: public sector (350.000 euros), university (565.000 euros), private sector (700.000).
DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL STRUCTURAL FUNDS MECHANISMS
Very few parts of the region, in the period 2000-2006, participated in EU Objective 2.
REGIONAL PROGRAMME OF INNOVATIVE ACTIONS (RPIA)
 The regional programme of innovative actions in Zuid-Holland was entitled “ANSWER” (A Novel South Wing Economic Reply) and was run during the period 2003-2004. The programme had a total budget of Euro 6.38 million ( EU - Euro 2.99 million, public - Euro 2.99 million, Private - Euro 0.4 million). The ANSWER programme aimed to transform the South Wing area into a regional centre of excellence based on knowledge oriented activities. It looked to improving the transfer of innovative potential from its knowledge institutes and research centres to the region's business.

The projects submitted through ANSWER were experimental and demonstrative by nature and offered new solutions that could possibly be transferred to other national or community instruments. Based on an overall approach three main actions were planned and carried out:

  • South Wing, frontrunner in innovation: this action aimed to promote innovation and knowledge transfer to traditional urban economic activities; encourage strategic and innovative entrepreneurship within small and medium sized business in the region; stimulate more high skilled labour within SMEs and 'high tech starters; search and/or offer financing opportunities for high tech starters; set up information networks between SMEs and knowledge institutes; stimulate R & D in SMEs.

  • Strengthening interface between socio-economic partners in the South Wing: this action aimed to adapt infrastructure for professional education to innovative needs of the regional business; improve innovative impulse of the regional business; enhance co-operation between education and business; finer tuning of the labour market to business needs; better utilisation of the educational capacities to support innovative initiatives within SMEs.

  • South Wing Innovation Network Generator (SWING): this action implemented pilots for the development and the setting up of new services - business as well as citizen oriented - based on the newest ICT related infrastructure and technologies. It also introduced so-called “Community Service Points (CSPs)” in which innovative facilities were made available for citizens, interest groups, professionals and/or small starters and offered common new media facilities and training for their application. Furthermore the actions line aimed to equip common ICT facilities for business clusters in branches that are typical for the urban economy, incl. street and market trading; offer well equipped training facilities for high tech starters; promote in the South Wing Area “clusters” of knowledge intensive businesses.