This document focuses on the Bottom-up Business Opportunity (BUBO) method developed by the Knowledge Center Biobased Economy (KCBBE) of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen as part of the Interreg North Sea PERISCOPE program1. In short, the PERISCOPE program includes the start of a permanent transnational intersectoral innovation platform for sustainable development within the North Sea regions. The program will answer the question what opportunities for new business in the North Sea region can be developed and deployed. The final result is a platform that provides innovations and instruments in the areas of finance, policy and Living Labs.
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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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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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As the Dutch population is aging, the field of music-in-healthcare keeps expanding. Healthcare, institutionally and at home, is multiprofessional and demands interprofessional collaboration. Musicians are sought-after collaborators in social and healthcare fields, yet lesser-known agents of this multiprofessional group. Although live music supports social-emotional wellbeing and vitality, and nurtures compassionate care delivery, interprofessional collaboration between musicians, social work, and healthcare professionals remains marginal. This limits optimising and integrating music-making in the care. A significant part of this problem is a lack of collaborative transdisciplinary education for music, social, and healthcare students that deep-dives into the development of interprofessional skills. To meet the growing demand for musical collaborations by particularly elderly care organisations, and to innovate musical contributions to the quality of social and healthcare in Northern Netherlands, a transdisciplinary education for music, physiotherapy, and social work studies is needed. This project aims to equip multiprofessional student groups of Hanze with interprofessional skills through co-creative transdisciplinary learning aimed at innovating and improving musical collaborative approaches for working with vulnerable, often older people. The education builds upon experiential learning in Learning LABs, and collaborative project work in real-life care settings, supported by transdisciplinary community forming.The expected outcomes include a new concept of a transdisciplinary education for HBO-curricula, concrete building blocks for a transdisciplinary arts-in-health minor study, innovative student-led approaches for supporting the care and wellbeing of (older) vulnerable people, enhanced integration of musicians in interprofessional care teams, and new interprofessional structures for educational collaboration between music, social work and healthcare faculties.
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).
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.
