Small size, big impact

摘要

With low unemployment, above-average incomes and a highly ranked quality of life by European standards, it would be easy for the Dutch to adopt an insular attitude. But it's a nation with a broad outlook - especially among its research community. "The Dutch have a tradition of looking beyond their own borders for research," says Arjen Hoekstra, a water researcher at the University of Twente in Enschede (see box). "In bigger countries, researchers tend to focus on their own problems, whereas smaller countries like the Netherlands often have a more external outlook."