Scientific research and development

NACE 7220

Current registrations427

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 05:30.

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%

3,229 of 24,403 FTE; Belgium 15%

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

0.47%

Nationally, 1.61% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is lower than that of 78% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 72 is 0.3%, against 0.4% nationally, over 1,636 scored companies. Comparison: as of 02-10-2026 05:30.

Regional split

by region · 259 of 427 enterprises with a registered office on file

Flanders 107 · 41.3%

Brussels 83 · 32.0%

Wallonia 66 · 25.5%

Unknown 3 · 1.2%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

Date	Company
30-06-2025	Ndjadi Hyambe Ya Shako, Jean BE 0766.422.734 · sole trader · La Louvière
01-03-2024	HEARTKINETICS BE 0728.461.387

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address

West Flanders WVL 11

East Flanders OVL 32

Antwerp ANT 28

Flemish Brabant VLB 27

Limburg LIM 9

Brussels BRU 83

Hainaut HAI 19

Walloon Brabant WBR 16

Namur NAM 8

Liège LIE 21

Luxembourg LUX 2

fewer moremax 83

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 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 7220 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 7220 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.