Students, researchers, professors and company representatives gathered to share progress and ideas at the second half-year symposium of HiPerGreen at the World Horti Center in Naaldwijk. HiPerGreen is a Raak MKB subsidised research project aiming to bring value to horticultural growers. Cock Heemskerk, head of the HiPerGreen project and lector Robotica at InHolland University of Applied Sciences, welcomed everyone and gave an overall status update. Then Lucien, Fesselet project manager at HiPerGreen, talked about the minimal viable product (MVP) to make automated detection of fusarium in Phalaenopsis (a type of orchid) possible. Three consortium partners were invited to explain what they do for HiPerGreen and what their motives for participation are: Igno Breukers (DB2-Vision, start-up of a new type of multispectral camera for Precision Agriculture), Tim Brander (head grower at Hazeu Orchids) and Tom Kearny-Mitchel (plant biology advisor at Applied Drone Innovations). Next several students summarised their team’s work, findings and failures to the audience. During the live demo Lucien unveiled one of the team’s newly-built technologies: live stream thermal images of plants. The sympoium was concluded with a brainstorm session and drink.
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IntroductionWithin the Entrepreneurship program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, there are a number of student start-ups that are developing inclusive, sustainable, and innovative solutions. We noticed that, during this process, they need to access certain facilities to develop a proof of concept or minimal viable product. When student start-ups tried to access facilities themselves, they found insufficient information about accessing facilities and contact persons. As Hui & Gerber (2017) stated that accessible facilities like a makerspace have a positive impact on the number of students who are embarking on the venture of a new business. Halbinger, (2020) states that there needs to be more research about university makerspaces in relation to the facilitation of student-entrepreneurship.
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The building and construction industry, which is responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, is far off track in achieving its net-zero emission targets. Product-service system (PSS) business models are one of the instruments used by the industry in the transition toward reaching these targets. A PSS business model is designed around an end-of-life solution that minimizes material usage and maximizes energy efficiency. It is provided to customers as a marketable set of products and services, jointly capable of fulfilling a customer’s needs. There are signals from practice however, that suggest that the implementation of this type of business model is falling behind. This study investigates this and seeks to identify key challenges and opportunities for sustainable PSS business models in the built environment. Using a grounded theory approach, data from 13 semi-structured interviews across five companies is used to identify challenges and opportunities that suppliers are facing in selling their products through PSS business models. Our preliminary data analysis points to nine challenges and opportunities for PSS business models. We discuss these in the context of the current economic transition toward a sustainable and circular built environment and provide suggestions for further research that could help to overcome resistance toward the implementation of PSS business models. The contribution of this research to researchers and practitioners is that it provides insights into the adoption of new business models in fragmented and competitive business environments.
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Het idee voor Backseat Travellers is ontstaan tijdens een brainstormweekend van docenten en studenten van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam in 2013. In dit weekend is uitgezocht waar op de markt voor vakantiespellen nog ruimte zou zijn. De markt van educatieve spellen voor op de achterbank van de auto bleek nog volledig open te liggen en zodoende is er toen een team gevormd waarmee onderzoek gedaan is naar de mogelijkheden om deze markt te veroveren. Student Media en Informatie Fleur Steiner heeft in 2014 een uitgebreid marktonderzoek gedaan naar de kansen voor dit product. Op basis hiervan heeft zij een adviesrapport opgeleverd als bachelor-scriptie (http://bit.ly/21NVqBZ) en vervolgens is er van 2014 tot heden gewerkt aan de ontwikkeling van de applicatie. Op dit moment ligt er een MVP (Minimal Viable Product) van de applicatie met diverse games die plaatsbaar is in de appstore en gebruikt kan worden op Android systemen.(https://vimeo.com/96191007). Deze aanvraag is er op gericht om een haalbaarheidsstudie te verrichten naar de mogelijkheden om de internationale markt te veroveren.
