The Dutch innovation policy for the shipbuilding industry: a burden or a beacon?

The global financial crisis of 2008 severely hit the shipbuilding industry, which resulted in big excess capacity problems. Distinguishing through innovation seemed more than ever the way forward in the pressure that this overcapacity creates on Western shipbuilding nations. Governments try to support these innovation activities through the execution of a well designed innovation policy. Based on a comparison with the innovation policy of Germany and Norway, and based on interviews with experts in the Dutch shipbuilding industry, an attempt will be done to improve the Dutch innovation policy for the shipbuilding industry.