Dit proefschrift beschrijft productinnovatie door betrokkenheid van gebruikers en klanten van het midden- en kleinbedrijf. Het onderzoek is ondersteund door de Hogeschool Utrecht
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Additions to the book "Systems Design and Engineering" by Bonnema et.al. Subjects were chosen based on the Systems Engineering needs for Small and Medium Enterprises, as researched in the SESAME project. The
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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of innovative forms of collaboration between different types of enterprises – aimed at scaling social impact – and address the challenges and complexities inherent to these specific types of partnerships. The particular focus is on strategic collaboration between workintegration social enterprises (WISEs) and mainstream, or for-profit enterprises (FPEs) with the shared objective to create more and better employment opportunities for disadvantaged individuals in the labour market. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a qualitative research design. The total sample consisted of 16 small- and medium-sized enterprises (both WISEs and FPEs), which were selected for their proven,business-to-business revenue model and their explicit ambition to create more inclusive jobs for disadvantaged individuals. Data collection and analysis took place between 2021 and 2023 and consisted of: semi-structured interviews with representatives of the participating enterprises to get a better understanding of the way in which current partnerships operate; and co-creative research methods to facilitate change processes – within and outside these partnerships – aimed at creating more social impact. Findings – Most collaborations between WISEs and FPEs start purely transactional, with the exchange of products or services, but once they become more familiarised with each other, the realisation of (joint) social impact becomes more significant. The ambition to further coordinate and integrate operations is prominent, but the partnership process is not without challenges and requires time, commitment and trust. So far, only few collaborations can be considered truly transformational. Originality/value – This study contributes to the discussion on strategic alliances and cross-sector collaborations by providing a conceptual framework and a practical instrument to shape strategic collaboration between social enterprises and FPEs that aim to create more social impact.
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Membrane downstream processing (DSP) offers many opportunities to make process water purification, food supplement concentration and fatty acid hydrogenations more sustainable. Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (ZUYD)/Center of Expertise (CoE) CHemelot Innovation and Learning Labs (CHILL) and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU)/ Utrecht Science Park Innovation Lab (I-Lab) will extend their current field labs with (reactor-)membrane set-ups to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with implementation and dissemination of membrane DSP. Experimental and theoretical scale-up will quantify the membrane DSP contribution to the transition of the chemical industry to become climate neutral. The MEM4CHEM consortium spans the chemical and high tech equipment (HTE) sectors and covers all aspects related to hardware, i.e. reactors, membranes and gas/liquid streams, to implement sustainable innovations for chemical end users. The membrane DSP field labs will be disseminated to extend the research network. In MEM4CHEM the overarching question: How can we implement (reactor-)membrane DSP set-ups in chemical process innovation and disseminate their advantages? and research question: How far can energy/material savings be increased in chemical processes by the use of membrane DSP? will be answered by: i) extending field labs with modular plug-and-play (reactor-)membrane set-ups tailored for the chemical process industry. ii) establishing guidelines for further optimization/upscaling. iii) quantifying energy and material savings using membrane DSP. iv) speeding up industrial implementation of membrane DSP by dissemination, research network expansion, integration of membrane knowledge in education and establishing young professionals as knowledgeable ambassadors. SMEs will be supported by: a) dissemination of the advantages of membrane DSP high tech equipment to facilitate implementation. b) the possibility for SME end users to quantify energy- and material savings in accessible field labs.
