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Success, Failure, and Impact of Local Energy Initiatives in The Netherlands

In the last decade, the number of local energy initiatives (LEIs) has increased in western European countries. Although several success factors and barriers in the development of LEIs have been studied by other scholars, there has been limited scholarly interest in the overall impact of LEIs so far. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore their impact by determining their achievement. Additionally, levels of engagement were used to categorise the success factors for and barriers that impede this impact. Initiatives in two provinces in the north of the Netherlands were studied. For the data collection, 84 in-depth interviews were conducted with the initiators of LEIs. In general, it can be concluded that the impact of LEIs is limited. Success factors and barriers in the development of LEIs play out at different levels of engagement: the level of the initiative itself; the community level; and the public–private level. Theoretically, this study provides empirical insights on how to measure the impact of LEIs. Furthermore, the study brings together a variety of factors that influence this impact based on the levels of engagement. Practically, this research offers indications on how to contribute to the further development of LEIs.

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Success, Failure, and Impact of Local Energy Initiatives in The Netherlands

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Small-scale community-based care initiatives in the Netherlands

This article focusses on small-scale community-based care initiatives developed by citizens in small villages in rural areas in the Netherlands, with special attention to some interesting case studies in the North and South of the country. These initiatives will be contextualized. First, the demographic processes impacting the Dutch care and welfare domain will be discussed in more detail (chapter 1). Subsequently, chapter 2 will focus on citizens’ initiatives, attempting to put them in a broader theoretical framework using theories on voluntary engagement, social cohesion, and a line of reasoning from social capital theory. Finally, in chapter 3, these findings will be used to describe and discuss small-scale community-based care initiatives in the Netherlands in general with a specific focus on two relatively new types of small-scale initiatives built around a social support worker.

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Developing a viable business model for community owned solar farms in the Netherlands

The goal of this paper is twofold: i) to design a viable business model for community owned solar farms that will be setup in the north of the Netherlands. ii) To present the findings from this case study, and to propose generalisations that are relevant for the development of artefacts that can be used to facilitate the design of viable business models in a business ecosystem setting.USE 2015

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Developing a viable business model for community owned solar farms in the Netherlands

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Migration and Integration in Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia and in the Netherlands, South Limburg

Whilst until the late 1980s most migration issues developed in a parallel manner but with national specifics, important differences showed up during the 1990s and at the beginning of this decade. Since the middle of the 1990s, there has been an obvious change in policy towards migrants and foreigners in the Netherlands, and those changes have been more or less “exported” to our neighbouring countries and even to the level of the EU. Integration into society with the maintenance of the immigrant’s own culture has been replaced by integration into the Dutch society after passing an integration examination. The focus of this article is to investigate those changes and to compare the implementation of those policies in the Netherlands/Limburg and Germany/NRW, where the official understanding of not being an immigration country was dominant until the end of the 1990s, and where integration has only recently become an important political issue. Both countries are now facing similar challenges for better integration into the society, especially into the educational system. Firstly, the autors describe migration definitions, types, the numbers of migrants and the backgrounds of migrant policies in Germany and the Netherlands up until the middle of the 1990s. Secondly they discuss the integration policies thereafter: the pathway to a new policy and the Action Plan Integration in Germany, and the central ideas of the Civic Integration of Newcomers Act (WIN) in the Netherlands. Integration policy in the Netherlands is highly centralised with little differentiation on the local governmental level when compared to South Limburg. Thirdly, the autors investigate the cross-border cooperation between professional organisations and educational institutions in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, and the involvement of social work institutions and social workers in their process of integration into the local society and the exchange of each others’ experiences (the ECSW and RECES projects).

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Migration and Integration in Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia and in the Netherlands, South Limburg

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Transition skills

To contribute positively to systemic transitions within local communities, architects need to be critical, reflective, far-sighted communicators. This paper presents educational practices developing adaptive, systemic and co-creative approaches within the training of architectural Masters students. It evaluates the first outcomes of a four-year research by design studio executed by the Academy of Architecture in Groningen, in which experiential learning helps development of heightened awareness, appropriate mindsets and critical thinking, enabling students to identify problems and challenges specific to their profession. Students, stakeholders, teachers and researchers involved in the studio form a learning community that critically monitors the educational program. By working on "live" projects, the studio produces insights concerning local scale energy transition in the North of The Netherlands.Global issues urge fundamental changes in the Dutch energy system and recent accumulations of earthquakes resulting from natural gas exploitation in the region of Groningen make the 'energy transition' inevitable. Whilst alternatives, proposed by the Dutch government, mainly consist of isolated, mono-functional interventions, the studio investigates integrative systemic scenarios that seek to enhance resilience on a human scale by embedding the energy transition within local communities. However, systemic transitions may be unpredictable, as they tend to play out within complex spatial, social and economic arenas, involving multiple, multi-level stakeholders. Shove and Walker (2007) caution professionals, involved in long-term transitions, to remain critical during the "[continuous] cycle of problem-definition, intervention and response".Ziegler and Bouma argue that analysing is designing in the reversed direction. The first year's outcomes consist of adaptic architectonic interventions within local communities, integrating flows of energy, food and waste. Using interviews with the learning community, the paper describes the educational processes leading to these outcomes, focusing on the formation and elaboration of the appropriate questions concerning stakeholders' interests; how these questions are kept central and deepened throughout projects; how they are represented at their closure and, above all, how they renew awareness concerning future regional needs. Initial findings stress the necessity of a circular research by design process, not necessarily to solve, but to accurately define those needs.

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Demographic transition, unbalanced population decline and their influence on social support systems for elderly in the North of the Netherlands

The so called Second Demographic Transition (Lesthaeghe and Van der Kaa, 1986), which surfaced in the sixties of the twentieth century in Western Europe and North America, resulted from a significant change in the pattern of norms and values. This again resulted in delayed fertility, a declining population when there was no replenishment through "replacement migration” and an increasing variety of household structures (with a rising number of one-person households). The rise in life expectancy coupled with a declining fertility, evolved into a gradual ageing of the population.The concept of ‘unbalanced population decline’ (Van Nimwegen and Heering 2009) enables us, while studying population decline, to take into account different motives underlying the decision to migrate during the life course; young people migrating in search of higher education and job opportunities and elderly clustering in places with a high facility level. This unbalanced population decline is taking place in some rural parts and smaller towns in the Netherlands. Especially the two migration flows mentioned above determine the structure of the population and the possibilities for effective family, kin and other social support systems for the elderly.Method:Analysis using amongst others recent demographic data from de community of Oldambt (Netherlands)Results:It will be shown that the effects of the demographic transition in the North of the Netherlands are accelerated because of unbalanced population decline. Furthermore it will be argued that because of this combination in parts of the Northern Netherlands family, kin and social support systems for the elderly are deteriorating more rapidly than in other parts of the county.Conclusion:Combined effects of demographic transition and unbalanced population decline urge for a reconsideration of the possibilities to rely on family, kin and other social support systems in different regions in the Netherlands.

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People 4

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Friedrich Kohle

Senior Lecturer Creative Business, Film, TV & Media Production

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Igor Mayer

Professor

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Celiane Camargo-Borges

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Gerard Schepers

Professor

Projects 26

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Bioprocessing NNL-WE-NS

This project is aimed to identify stakeholders/partners active/interested in products based upon fermentation in the Northern Netherlands/Niedersachsen region, to create synergism and mutually elaborate the fermentation technology to stimulate economic growth and contribute to the circular/bio-based transition. Furthermore it is also aimed to stimulate and coordinate educational programs in the field of bioprocessing/fermentation in order to meet the requirements of industry (well-educated professionals).

Finished

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Circular Economy in hospitality: building a networked learning community committed to develop further knowledge on the application of circular economy in the hospitality industry

Circular Economy is a novel disruptive paradigm redefining sustainability in the hospitality industry and addressing the environmental challenges set by this fast-growing impactful industry. To address these challenges, the creation of further knowledge on circular economy and its applications in the hospitality sector is fundamental, together with providing hoteliers and restaurateurs with proper skills and knowhow to tackle such challenges. Drawing on a on going pilot project on Circular Economy in Hotels in Amsterdam, the Friesland hospitality sector and the Professorship of Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences have set out to develop an innovative learning experimental environment in which Friesland hoteliers and restaurateurs can develop further knowledge and identify - together with students, researchers, and experts – possible key actions and strategies to implement regenerative circular processes of material up-cycling. To which extent this learning community of the Northern Netherlands contributes to develop wider knowledge on circular economy in hospitality and to identify, implement, and test innovative regenerative circular actions will be evaluated.

Finished

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ELSA AI lab Northern Netherlands (ELSA-NN)

The ELSA AI lab Northern Netherlands (ELSA-NN) is committed to the promotion of healthy living, working and ageing. By investigating cultural, ethical, legal, socio-political, and psychological aspects of the use of AI in different decision-makingcontexts and integrating this knowledge into an online ELSA tool, ELSA-NN aims to contribute to knowledge about trustworthy human-centric AI and development and implementation of health technology innovations, including AI, in theNorthern region.The research in ELSA-NN will focus on developing and mapping ELSA knowledge around three general concepts of importance for the development, monitoring and implementation of trustworthy and human-centric AI: availability, use,and performance. These concepts will be explored in two lines of research: 1) use case research investigating the use of different AI applications with different types of data in different decision-making contexts at different time periods duringthe life course, and 2) an exploration among stakeholders in the Northern region of needs, knowledge, (digital) health literacy, attitudes and values concerning the use of AI in decision-making for healthy living, working and ageing. Specificfocus will be on investigating low social economic status (SES) perspectives, since health disparities between high and low SES groups are growing world-wide, including in the Northern region and existing health inequalities may increase with theintroduction and use of innovative health technologies such as AI.ELSA-NN will be integrated within the AI hub Northern-Netherlands, the Health Technology Research & Innovation Cluster (HTRIC) and the Data Science Center in Health (DASH). They offer a solid base and infrastructure for the ELSA-NNconsortium, which will be extended with additional partners, especially patient/citizens, private, governmental and researchrepresentatives, to have a quadruple-helix consortium. ELSA-NN will be set-up as a learning health system in which much attention will be paid to dialogue, communication and education.

Ongoing

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Employer Branding as a Powerful Tool for Employee Recruitment and Retention

In our increasingly global society, organizations face many opportunities in innovation, improved productivity and easy access to talent. At the same time, one of the greatest challenges, businesses experience nowadays, is the importance of social and/or human capital for their effectiveness and success (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Mosley, 2007; Theurer et al., 2018; Tumasjan et al., 2020). High-quality employees are crucial to the competitive strength of an organization in the global economy, as these employees have a major influence on organizational reputation (Dowling at al., 2012). An important question is how, under these global circumstances, organizations and companies in the Netherlands can best be stimulated to attract and preserve social capital.Several studies have suggested the scarcity of talent and the crucial importance of gaining competitive advantage with recruitment communication to find the fit between personal and fundamental organizational characteristics and values for employees (Cable and Edwards, 2004; Bhatnagar and Srivastava, 2008; ManPower Group, 2014; European Communication Monitor (ECM), 2018). In order to become an employer of choice, organizations have to not only stand out from the crowd during the recruitment process but work on developing loyalty and a culture of trust in their relationship with employees (ECM, 2018). Employer Branding focuses on the process of promoting an organization, as the “employer of choice” to a desired target group, which an organization aims to attract and retain. This process encompasses building an identifiable and unique employer identity or, more specifically, “the promotion of a unique and attractive image” as an employer (Backhaus 2004, p. 117; Backhaus and Tikoo 2004, p. 502).One of the biggest challenges in the North of the Netherlands at the moment is the urgent need for qualified labor in the IT, energy and healthcare sectors and the excess supply of international graduates who are able to find a job in the North of the Netherlands (AWVN, 2019). Talent development, as part of the regional labor market and education policy, has been an important part of government programs and strategies in the region (VNO-NCW Noord, 2018). For instance, North Netherlands Alliance (SNN) signed a Northern Innovation Agenda for the 2014-2020 period. SNN encourages, facilitates and connects ambitions focused on the development of the Northern Netherlands. Also, the Social Economic council North Netherlands issued an advice on the labour market in the North Netherlands (SER Noord Nederland, 2017). Knowledge institutions also contribute through employability programs. Another example is the Regional Talent Agreement (Talent Akkoord) framework issued by the Groningen educational institutions, employers and employees’ organizations and regional authorities in which they jointly commit to recruiting, training, retaining and developing talent for the Northern labor market. Most of the hires with a maximum of five year of experience at companies are represented by millennials. To learn what values make an attractive brand for employees in the of the North of the Netherlands, we conducted a first study. When ranking the most important values of corporate culture which matter to young employees, they mention creative freedom, purposeful work, flexibility, work-life balance as well as personal development. Whereas attractive workplace and job security do not matter to such a degree. A positive work environment and a good relationship with colleagues are valued highly (Hein, 2019).To date, as far as we know, no other employer branding studies have been carried out for the North of the Netherlands. Further insight is needed into the role of employer branding as a powerful tool to retain talent in Northern industry in particular.The goal of this study is to provide a detailed analysis of the regional industry in the Northern Netherlands and contribute to: 1) the scientific body of knowledge about whether and how employer branding can strengthen the attractiveness of a regional industry in the labor market; 2) the application of this knowledge and insights by companies and governments in local policy development in the North of the Netherlands.

Finished

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European Digital Innovation Hub

The Northern Netherlands (NN) finds itself at the junction of all the big transitions. Digitalisation is essential to follow through with these. Considering this, our region has the potential to make sizeable progress if it can successfully roll out widespread digitalisation. As a hardcore transition economy, the NN may even join the European frontrunners and act as an example for other regions. It is from this challenge that the NN will start with the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH NN). We have chosen to specialise in the area of Autonomous Systems, which includes multiple digital technologies that are relevant for the four transitions in the NN: (1) Smart Agro, (2) Smart Manufacturing, (3) Life Science and Health and (4) Utilities, Built Environment and Mobility. In the first three-year EDIH NN wants to support more than 750 companies and lay the foundation for long-term support of all companies. The following building blocks for EDIH NN are: • A Brokerage network that will identify issues regarding digitalisation and relay these to Solution Providers (high TRL) and knowledge providers (low TRL). • A Test Before Invest network (test and demo facilities) comprising 20+ organisations that will invest in Autonomous Systems within their domain, and collaborate towards becoming a European testing ground. • A Smart Factory Accelerator to strengthen the digital maturity of companies. • An Empowerment programme to strengthen companies in the areas of DEP Technologies: Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence. • An approach based on High Performance Computing to make digitalisation more accessible. • The Smart Makers Academy: A programme aimed at matching supply and demand around digital skills, based on individual learning outcomes. • A Funding Readiness programme to help companies that need to invest for their digitalisation strategy, in finding funding opportunities. • A network to stimulate supply and demand around Autonomous Systems

Ongoing

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GO! Noord-Nederland (2)

The population in rural areas in the northern provinces are aging in a much higher pace than in other parts of the Netherlands. Many young and higher educated citizens move out of these provinces. Quality of life in rural villages decreases likewise and the inhabitants that stay behind are more vulnerable, with lower income and educational levels. Recent decentralization policies put a larger burden on local constituencies to guarantee the quality of the living environment but a lot of them lack sufficient knowledge and capacity to tackle this complex issue.The initiators of this application have joined their knowledge and experience to put together a consortium with the aim to support these smaller constituencies in rural areas in the three northern provinces with a new and innovative methodology: the GO! approach. This approach was developed in the neigborhoods of Utrecht municipality and will be used for the first time in rural communities with a comparable size .This approach consists of the following steps:• First to identify possibilities to create a healthier living environment by analyzing available data on pollution, spatial layout and social cohesion.• To discuss the result of this analysis with local citizens and other local stakeholders in order to link the data with local experiences• To prioritize into major themes as a result of the combination of all this available information.• To link these major themes to combinations effective measures available from RIVM and international databases.• To present these combinations to the local government, their citizens and other local stakeholders in order to let them choose for an effective approach and inplemant it together in order to create a local healthier living environment.The GO! approach will provide local citizens and professionals with the necessary tools and knowledge to work jointly and effectively to realize a healthier living environment. The project partners that jointly started the consortium will put in effort during this first year to build and formalize the consortium and to make arrangements with several constituencies in the three northers provinces to formulate their own specific knowledge agenda as a basis for concrete project proposals in the second stage to be implemented with the support of the formalized consortium.

Finished

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Greengage

Nature areas in North-West Europe (NWE) face an increasing number of visitors (intensified by COVID-19) resulting in an increased pressure on nature, negative environmental impacts, higher management costs, and nuisance for local residents and visitors. The high share of car use exaggerates these impacts, including peak pressures. Furthermore, the almost exclusive access by car excludes disadvantaged people, specifically those without access to a car. At the same time, the urbanised character of NWE, its dense public transport network, well-developed tourism & recreation sector, and presence of shared mobility providers offers ample opportunities for more sustainable tourism. Thus, MONA will stimulate sustainable tourism in and around nature areas in NWE which benefits nature, the environment, visitors, and the local economy. MONA will do so by encouraging a modal shift through facilitating sustainableThe pan-European Innovation Action, funded under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, aims to promote innovative governance processes ,and help public authorities in shaping their climate mitigation and adaptation policies. To achieve this aim, the GREENGAGE project will leverage citizens’ participation and equip them with innovative digital solutions that will transform citizen’s engagement and cities’ effectiveness in delivering the European Green Deal objectives for carbon neutral cities.Focusing on mobility, air quality and healthy living, citizens will be inspired to observe and co-create their cities by sensing their urban environments. The aim to complement, validate, and enrich information in authoritative data held by the public administrations and public agencies. This will be facilitated by engaging with citizens to co-create green initiatives and to develop Citizen Observatories. In GREENGAGE, Citizen Observatories will be a place where pilot cities will co-examine environmental issues integrating novel bottom-up process with top-down perspectives. This will provide the basis to co-create and co-design innovative solutions to monitor environmental problems at ground level with the help of citizens.With two interrelated project dimensions, the project aims to enhance intelligence applied to city decision-making processes and governance by engaging with citizen observations integrated with Copernicus, GEOSS, in-situ, and socio-economic intelligence, and by delivering innovative governance models based on novel toolboxes of decision-making methodologies and technologies. The envisioned citizens observatory campaigns will be deployed and fully demonstrated in 5 pilot engagements in selected European cities and regions including: Bristol (the United Kingdom), Copenhagen (Denmark), Turano / Gerace (Italy) and the region of Noord Brabant (the Netherlands). These innovation pilots aim to highlight the need for smart city governance by promoting citizen engagement, co-creation, gathering new data which will complement existing datasets and evidence-based decision and policymaking.

Ongoing

Products 1.465

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Success, Failure, and Impact of Local Energy Initiatives in The Netherlands

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Small-scale community-based care initiatives in the Netherlands

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Developing a viable business model for community owned solar farms in the Netherlands

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