Scientific research and development

NACE 7219

Current registrations1,030

Starters, 12 months · division 72173

Employment (FTE) · division 7225,323

Median age · division 729.5 years

In NACE division 72, 7.4 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is higher than that of 49% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 02-10-2026 18:11.

Key figures for NACE division 72

fiscal year 2025 · median over 1,014 filed annual accounts

Median solvency

57.6%

higher than 95% of 79 divisions

Median equity

€237,763

higher than 71% of 79 divisions

Median net result

€20,583

higher than 68% of 79 divisions

Annual accounts in sample

1,014

Foreign control in NACE division 72

1,717 registered companies

Companies with a foreign parent

2.6%

45 of 1,717; Belgium 0.3%

Staff at those companies

13%

3,223 of 24,417 FTE; Belgium 14%

Mostly from France (11), United States (8) and Netherlands (6).Show on the map by municipality

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 72

300 employers

Median

€93,500

Belgium €61,100

Middle half

€72,800 to €117,600

half of the employers lie between

Place among sectors

2 of 78

by median staff cost per FTE

By size class
Size	Median	Middle half	Employers
fewer than 10 FTE	€91,900	€67,000 to €119,200	133
10 to 49 FTE	€92,000	€73,800 to €109,800	112
50 to 249 FTE	€91,500	€79,900 to €108,100	40

Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench

Bankruptcies

past five years

Bankruptcies (5y)

Historical share

1.26%

Nationally, 1.61% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 56% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 72 is 0.1%, against 0.2% nationally, over 1,636 scored companies. Comparison: as of 02-10-2026 18:11.

Regional split

by region · 917 of 1,030 enterprises with a registered office on file

Flanders 449 · 49.0%

Wallonia 294 · 32.1%

Brussels 166 · 18.1%

Unknown 8 · 0.9%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

Date	Company
02-10-2026	BAFO TEAM BE 0734.508.051
23-09-2026	R & O LAB BE 0477.245.839
23-06-2026	Airlam BE 0739.575.411
17-04-2026	ARTIALIS BE 0830.584.472
09-03-2026	STRATICELL SCREENING TECHNOLOGIES BE 0872.072.956
13-02-2026	CYTéVIE BE 0474.812.921
07-05-2025	Green Energy Associates BE 1002.154.411
18-02-2025	TRACTONOMY ROBOTICS BE 0719.769.001

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address

West Flanders WVL 53

East Flanders OVL 115

Antwerp ANT 113

Flemish Brabant VLB 116

Limburg LIM 52

Brussels BRU 166

Hainaut HAI 76

Walloon Brabant WBR 73

Namur NAM 50

Liège LIE 82

Luxembourg LUX 13

fewer moremax 166

Where are this sector's balance sheets registered? By municipality, down to the address

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number

Flemish subsidies €1.20bn awarded 258 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies voor Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronicacentrum (IMEC) vzw
Federal transfers 616.2m amount as published 35 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Subsidie aan het Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie (SCK) (cf. art. 2.32.1 van de Algemene Uitgaven-
Wallonia-Brussels Federation €203.7m paid 18 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subvention légale au Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS), en ce compris les chercheurs permanents (Décret du 17/07/2013)
EU budget €1.36bn attributed share 125 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Horizon Europe
EU research €2.72bn eu contribution 180 recipients · 2007 to 2027 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

How these figures are counted

Current enterprise registrations are counted through their registered main activities; establishment units are excluded. Counted in the KBO's NACE 2008 nomenclature, the one in which code 7219 exists.

Share of currently registered companies with a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. Registered main activities in the selected classification can overlap. This retrospective share is not a future bankruptcy probability.

The comparison with the country and with the other NACE divisions comes from a nightly overview of every division, each counted in the nomenclature in which it exists. A standing such as "higher than 80%" counts the other divisions that have the figure. The bankruptcy probability is the median of our nightly score over the division's companies that have one; the count is stated.

The key figures cover the whole NACE division 72, not NACE 7219 on its own: there are too few filed annual accounts per five-digit code to compute them separately. The middle company of the sector, based on all filed annual accounts.