SMEs within the rural Dutch municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug (UHG) are becoming increasingly aware of the need for sustainable ‘green’ business. Their sense of sustainability is strongly defined by the ‘green’ environment in which they live and work. They were seeking an entrepreneurial approach to sustainability that is reflective of the area and fits their ecosystem. This approach was to be aimed at innovation and branding. We assumed that the role and function of a location-based brand differs from that of product or corporate brands because it has more complexity. Taking place-branding theory as our starting point, we set out to construe a brand that is a) based on local identity and b) has the power to motivate and mobilize SME entrepreneurs to form cooperative sustainable networks. This paper presents our analysis for a brand framework and demonstrates how it has been applied to imbue sustainable ‘green’ impact.
Educational escape rooms (EERs) are increasingly used in education as learning innovations for non-digital and game-based learning (GBL) since EERs positively influence student motivation. They are common in educational fields where skills developments are vital such as STEM subjects and healthcare. However, EERs are marginally implemented in entrepreneurship education (EE) because there is a lack of evaluated design elements to guide the creation of EER in this context, which hampers their wider adoption. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated design elements for EERs in EE. We are particularly concerned with experiential EE since EERs are well suited for experiential learning. We used a research-through-design approach and created an EER based on 11 design elements derived from the literature on social cognitive theory, entrepreneurship competence, and gamification. We created and evaluated the EER in two cycles with two diverse groups of students at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands. We contribute to the literature and practice of experiential EE by presenting evaluated design elements for EERs. We show which design elements work well and which do not. We also present a comprehensively designed EER that educational professionals can implement in their experiential EE programs.
Female entrepreneurship is still a limited phenomenon in European countries and its promotion ranks high on the EU policy agenda. Various frameworks have been offered to explain the main structural differences in entrepreneurship between men and women, emphasizing a variety of underlying factors. With a novel approach, this paper argues that due to a process of generation renewal the numerical difference between male and female entrepreneurship will diminish. Generation replacement is seen by sociologists and other social scientists as the motor behind cultural renewal. Our core interest in this paper in developing such a dynamic interpretation within the European context is the role of different generations (Silent Generation, Babyboomers, Generation X, Millennials). Younger cohorts of females are hypothesized to be more pro entrepreneurship and pro self-employment both in terms of attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, compared to older cohorts. They are furthermore assumed to converge with their male generation members in this regard. This paper empirically tests these two hypotheses by analyzing multi cross-sectional European data from the Eurobarometer over a span of thirty-five years (1980-2015). Results show that this generational approach sheds new light on explaining trends in female entrepreneurship. We find evidence of an increased growth in female entrepreneurship that can be attributed to generation replacement. This rise in total female entrepreneurship is characterized by diversity among European countries in the study. Positive attitudes toward entrepreneurship are essential to considering future self-employment. Education is a key factor. Female entrepreneurship, it is predicted, will become more prominent in Europe.
Client: Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) Funder: RAAK (Regional Attention and Action for Knowledge circulation) The RAAK scheme is managed by the Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Early 2013 the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport started work on the RAAK-MKB project ‘Carbon management for tour operators’ (CARMATOP). Besides NHTV, eleven Dutch SME tour operators, ANVR, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Climate Neutral Group and ECEAT initially joined this 2-year project. The consortium was later extended with IT-partner iBuildings and five more tour operators. The project goal of CARMATOP was to develop and test new knowledge about the measurement of tour package carbon footprints and translate this into a simple application which allows tour operators to integrate carbon management into their daily operations. By doing this Dutch tour operators are international frontrunners.Why address the carbon footprint of tour packages?Global tourism contribution to man-made CO2 emissions is around 5%, and all scenarios point towards rapid growth of tourism emissions, whereas a reverse development is required in order to prevent climate change exceeding ‘acceptable’ boundaries. Tour packages have a high long-haul and aviation content, and the increase of this type of travel is a major factor in tourism emission growth. Dutch tour operators recognise their responsibility, and feel the need to engage in carbon management.What is Carbon management?Carbon management is the strategic management of emissions in one’s business. This is becoming more important for businesses, also in tourism, because of several economical, societal and political developments. For tour operators some of the most important factors asking for action are increasing energy costs, international aviation policy, pressure from society to become greener, increasing demand for green trips, and the wish to obtain a green image and become a frontrunner among consumers and colleagues in doing so.NetworkProject management was in the hands of the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport (CSTT) of NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences. CSTT has 10 years’ experience in measuring tourism emissions and developing strategies to mitigate emissions, and enjoys an international reputation in this field. The ICT Associate Professorship of HZ University of Applied Sciences has longstanding expertise in linking varying databases of different organisations. Its key role in CARMATOP was to create the semantic wiki for the carbon calculator, which links touroperator input with all necessary databases on carbon emissions. Web developer ibuildings created the Graphical User Interface; the front end of the semantic wiki. ANVR, the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators, represents 180 tour operators and 1500 retail agencies in the Netherlands, and requires all its members to meet a minimum of sustainable practices through a number of criteria. ANVR’s role was in dissemination, networking and ensuring CARMATOP products will last. Climate Neutral Group’s experience with sustainable entrepreneurship and knowledge about carbon footprint (mitigation), and ECEAT’s broad sustainable tourism network, provided further essential inputs for CARMATOP. Finally, most of the eleven tour operators are sustainable tourism frontrunners in the Netherlands, and are the driving forces behind this project.
The Dutch floriculture is globally leading, and its products, knowledge and skills are important export products. New challenges in the European research agenda include sustainable use of raw materials such as fertilizer, water and energy, and limiting the use of pesticides. Greenhouse growers however have little control over crop growth conditions in the greenhouse at individual plant level. The purpose of this project, ‘HiPerGreen’, is to provide greenhouse owners with new methods to monitor the crop growth conditions in their greenhouse at plant level, compare the measured growth conditions and the measured growth with expected conditions and expected growth, to point out areas with deviations, recommend counter-measures and ultimately to increase their crop yield. The main research question is: How can we gather, process and present greenhouse crop growth parameters over large scale greenhouses in an economical way and ultimately improve crop yield? To provide an answer to this question, a team of university researchers and companies will cooperate in this applied research project to cover several different fields of expertise The application target is floriculture: the production of ornamental pot plants and cut flowers. Participating companies are engaged in the cultivation of pot plans, flowers and suppliers of greenhouse technology. Most of the parties fall in the SME (MKB) category, in line with the RAAK MKB objectives.Finally, the Demokwekerij and Hortipoint (the publisher of the international newsletter on floriculture) are closely involved. The project will develop new knowledge for a smart and rugged data infrastructure for growth monitoring and growth modeling in the greenhouse. In total the project will involve approximately 12 (teacher) researchers from the universities and about 60 students, who will work in the form of internships and undergraduate studies of interesting questions directly from the participating companies.
Sinds de ratificatie van de Global Goals in het najaar van 2015 heeft de Nederlandse overheid zich gecommitteerd aan het bereiken van deze doelen. Er is echter geen implementatie of uitvoeringsreceptuur geleverd bij het bepalen van de doelen. Met Peeze Coffee, BiomyGreen zijn lopende gesprekken en afspraken over het prototypen van een implementatie strategie van de Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in het MKB. De Gemeente Rheden stimuleert de MVO strategie van het midden en klein bedrijf binnen hun grenzen en participeert in regionale samenwerkingsverbanden. De gemeente Rheden wil de kennis en toepassingsontwikkeling verder stimuleren en werkt daarbij intensief samen met VHL. Deze koplopers in Duurzaamheid inclusief de gemeente Rheden hebben hun duurzaamheidsprofiel goed op de rit maar krijgen de uitdaging van de SDGs voor hun kiezen: Er is weinig praktijk ervaring op midden management. Deze uitdaging zal merkbaar worden door toekomstige regelgeving op bv de energie transitie, circulair economie en de impact van de bedrijfsactiviteiten op onze leefomgeving. Beter is het deze ontwikkelingen voor te zijn: maar hoe doe je dat met het midden management? Dit kortlopende project gaat leerresultaten van onderzoek documenteren hoe deze bedrijven en de gemeente Rheden de SDGs in hun bedrijfsprofiel te verankeren. Het co-creëren gaat idealiter een ‘Demonstrator’ opleveren waarbij video, interviews recordings, werksessie opnamen en SDG implementatie modellen worden verwerkt welke Good Practises en leertrajecten werkzaam zijn bij het implementeren van de SDGs. De Demonstrator zal gebruikt worden bij Symposia, SDG kenniscentrum voor MKB en bij Entrepreneurship onderwijsmodules en draagt bij aan het bedrijfsprofiel van de aangesloten consortium deelnemers. Deze korte slag van Raak-Kiem zal uiteindelijk leiden naar een grotere aanvraag Raak-MKB of Raak-Pro.
