Paper presented at EURAM 2019: Exploring the Future of Management, Lisbon. Solution ecosystems can help to solve or minimize societal problems. A wide range of different actors are involved in co-creating a solution. Together, they form a ‘solution ecosystem’. They co-create different forms of value for different stakeholder groups. They create value at the ecosystem level, for different stakeholder groups. Moreover, they create system-resources. Value capture and distribution among ecosystem actors can therefore be challenging. Moreover, little is known on the role of ecosystem orchestration and goal-alignment of ecosystem actors. In this paper, we shed light on these aspects with a case study of an emerging solution ecosystem that develops a circular urban area in the Netherlands, with the aim of tackling a number of societal problems. We explore the challenges this solution ecosystem faces with regards to value creation, value capture and distribution, ecosystem orchestration and goal alignment. We conclude with avenues for future research on solution ecosystems that enable sustainability transitions. Submission to track ST13_08 - The inner life of business ecosystems, http://www.euramonline.org/annual-conference-2019.html
This document presents the findings of a study into methods that can help counterterrorism professionals make decisions about ethical problems. The study was commissioned by the Research and Documentation Centre (Wetenschappelijk Onderzoeken Documentatiecentrum, WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice (Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie), on behalf of the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (Nationaal Coördinator Terrorismebestrijding en Veiligheid,NCTV). The research team at RAND Europe was complemented by applied ethics expert Anke van Gorp from the Research Centre for Social Innovation (Kenniscentrum Sociale Innovatie) at Hogeschool Utrecht. The study provides an inventory of methods to support ethical decision-making in counterterrorism, drawing on the experience of other public sectors – healthcare, social work, policing and intelligence – and multiple countries, primarily the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
We live in an increasingly complex world, characterised by interconnected and intractable wicked problems. Systems mapping offers a visual approach for collectively understanding and envisioning how to coordinate the addressing of these problems. The agri-food sector is facing severe problems and systems mapping could be particularly instrumental in helping it navigate these difficulties.
Het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (NOM) wil actief bijdragen aan een duurzame samenleving met zijn kennis van materialen, producten, diensten en culturele tradities die eeuwenlang functioneerden binnen circulaire gemeenschappen. Ondanks technologische vernieuwing en globalisering heeft het NOM de overtuiging dat deze historische kennis kan bijdragen aan duurzame producten voor de toekomst. Het NOM wil een structurele samenwerking met de creatieve sector om meetbare impact te realiseren binnen en buiten het museum voor de transitie naar een circulaire samenleving. Daarvoor wil het graag zijn collectie en kennis toegankelijk maken voor ontwerpers. Belangrijke praktijkvragen daarbij zijn: Welke rol kan het museum spelen i.s.m. ontwerpers? Hoe kan relevante kennis van het NOM toegankelijk en toepasbaar worden gemaakt voor ontwerpers? Hoe creëer je samen met ontwerpers de gewenste impact in de samenleving? Op basis hiervan is de onderzoeksvraag geformuleerd: Hoe kunnen maatschappelijke organisaties zoals het NOM relevante kennis en artefacten toegankelijk en toepasbaar maken voor ontwerpers t.b.v. meetbare impact voor een circulaire samenleving? Deze onderzoeksvraag is vertaald naar enkele sub-vragen over definities van duurzaamheid en circulariteit, de verwachte rollen van museum en ontwerpers, de gewenste structuur van samenwerking en over de rol van prototypen om de gewenste impact te realiseren. Naast het NOM als MKB, participeren in dit project twee creatieve ondernemers (1 MKB, 1 ZZP-er) die zijn geselecteerd op basis van hun specifieke ontwerpkwaliteiten, hun ervaringen in samenwerken met partners en hun kennis van circulair ontwerp. Samen met docent-onderzoekers en ontwerpstudenten van ArtEZ onderzoeken zij deze vragen. De belangrijkste projectresultaten zijn: prototypen, getest op gewenste maatschappelijke impact; een rapport dat beschrijft hoe het NOM kan samenwerken met de creatieve sector om bij te dragen aan ‘Nederland circulair’; en presentatie- en netwerkbijeenkomsten om kennis te delen en te bouwen aan het netwerk van stakeholders om beoogde impact te realiseren.
Collaborative networks for sustainability are emerging rapidly to address urgent societal challenges. By bringing together organizations with different knowledge bases, resources and capabilities, collaborative networks enhance information exchange, knowledge sharing and learning opportunities to address these complex problems that cannot be solved by organizations individually. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the apparel sector, where examples of collaborative networks for sustainability are plenty, for example Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals, and the Fair Wear Foundation. Companies like C&A and H&M but also smaller players join these networks to take their social responsibility. Collaborative networks are unlike traditional forms of organizations; they are loosely structured collectives of different, often competing organizations, with dynamic membership and usually lack legal status. However, they do not emerge or organize on their own; they need network orchestrators who manage the network in terms of activities and participants. But network orchestrators face many challenges. They have to balance the interests of diverse companies and deal with tensions that often arise between them, like sharing their innovative knowledge. Orchestrators also have to “sell” the value of the network to potential new participants, who make decisions about which networks to join based on the benefits they expect to get from participating. Network orchestrators often do not know the best way to maintain engagement, commitment and enthusiasm or how to ensure knowledge and resource sharing, especially when competitors are involved. Furthermore, collaborative networks receive funding from grants or subsidies, creating financial uncertainty about its continuity. Raising financing from the private sector is difficult and network orchestrators compete more and more for resources. When networks dissolve or dysfunction (due to a lack of value creation and capture for participants, a lack of financing or a non-functioning business model), the collective value that has been created and accrued over time may be lost. This is problematic given that industrial transformations towards sustainability take many years and durable organizational forms are required to ensure ongoing support for this change. Network orchestration is a new profession. There are no guidelines, handbooks or good practices for how to perform this role, nor is there professional education or a professional association that represents network orchestrators. This is urgently needed as network orchestrators struggle with their role in governing networks so that they create and capture value for participants and ultimately ensure better network performance and survival. This project aims to foster the professionalization of the network orchestrator role by: (a) generating knowledge, developing and testing collaborative network governance models, facilitation tools and collaborative business modeling tools to enable network orchestrators to improve the performance of collaborative networks in terms of collective value creation (network level) and private value capture (network participant level) (b) organizing platform activities for network orchestrators to exchange ideas, best practices and learn from each other, thereby facilitating the formation of a professional identity, standards and community of network orchestrators.
Our world is changing rapidly as a result of societal and technological developments that create new opportunities and challenges. Extended Realities (XR) could provide solutions for the problems the world is facing. In this project we apply these novel solutions in food and hospitality. It aims to tackle fundamental questions on how to stimulate a healthy and vital society that is based on a sustainable and innovative economy. This project aims to answer the question: How can Extended Reality (XR) technologies be integrated in the design of immersive food experiences to stimulate sustainable consumption behavior? A multidisciplinary approach, that has demonstrated its strength in the creative industry, will be applied in the hospitality and food sector. The project investigates implications and design considerations for immersion through XR technology that can stimulate sustainable consumption behavior. Based on XR prototypes, physiological data will be collected using biometric measuring devices in combination with self-reports. The effect of stimuli on sustainable consumption behavior during the immersive experience will be tested to introduce XR implementations that can motivate long-term behavioral change in food consumption. The results of the project contribute towards developing innovations in the hospitality sector that can tackle global societal challenges by exploiting the impact of new technology and understanding of consumer behavior to promote a healthy lifestyle and economy. Next to academic publications and conference contributions, the project will develop a handbook for hospitality professionals. It will outline steps and design criteria for the implementation of XR technologies to create immersive experiences that can stimulate sustainable consumption behavior. The knowledge generated in the project will contribute to the development of the curriculum at the Academy for Hotel and Facility at Breda University of Applied Sciences by introducing a technology-driven experience design approach for the course Sustainable Strategic Business Design.
