Purpose – purpose of this article is to report about the progress of the development of a method that makes sense of knowledge productivity, in order to be able to give direction to knowledge management initiatives. Methodology/approach – the development and testing of the method is based on the paradigm of the Design Sciences. In order to increase the objectivity of the research findings, and in order to test the transferability of the method, this article suggests a methodology for beta testing. Findings – based on the experiences within this research, the concept of beta testing seems to fit Design Science Research very well. Moreover, applying this concept within this research resulted in valuable findings for further development of the method. Research implications – this is the first article that explicitly applies the concept of beta testing to the process of developing solution concepts. Originality/value – this article contributes to the further operationalization of the relatively new concept of knowledge productivity. From a methodological point of view, this article aims to contribute to the paradigm of the Design Sciences in general, and the concept of beta testing in particular.
Charging an electric vehicle needs to be as simple as possible for the user. He needs to park his car, plug his vehicle and identify to start charging. There is no need to understand the technology and protocols needed to reach this simple task.For the students and researchers of the Amsterdam University of Applied Science (AUAS / HvA), there is a need to understand as deep as possible all the techniques involved in this technology.The purpose of this document is to give to the reader the information he needs to understand how an electric car can be charged and how he can use these knowledges to analyses and interpret data.
Road freight transport contributes to 75% of the global logistics CO2 emissions. Various European initiatives are calling for a drastic cut-down of CO2 emissions in this sector [1]. This requires advanced and very expensive technological innovations; i.e. re-design of vehicle units, hybridization of powertrains and autonomous vehicle technology. One particular innovation that aims to solve this problem is multi-articulated vehicles (road-trains). They have a smaller footprint and better efficiency of transport than traditional transport vehicles like trucks. In line with the missions for Energy Transition and Sustainability [2], road-trains can have zero-emission powertrains leading to clean and sustainable urban mobility of people and goods. However, multiple articulations in a vehicle pose a problem of reversing the vehicle. Since it is extremely difficult to predict the sideways movement of the vehicle combination while reversing, no driver can master this process. This is also the problem faced by the drivers of TRENS Solar Train’s vehicle, which is a multi-articulated modular electric road vehicle. It can be used for transporting cargo as well as passengers in tight environments, making it suitable for operation in urban areas. This project aims to develop a reverse assist system to help drivers reverse multi-articulated vehicles like the TRENS Solar Train, enabling them to maneuver backward when the need arises in its operations, safely and predictably. This will subsequently provide multi-articulated vehicle users with a sustainable and economically viable option for the transport of cargo and passengers with unrestricted maneuverability resulting in better application and adding to the innovation in sustainable road transport.
The aim of the project is to design, test, refine and deploy a new assessment tool focusing on individual Future Literacy of students. Future Literacy is the ability to produce and process complex visions of the future and make sense thereof. FL is therefore an essential component of any 21st Century Skills set, in the sense that it focuses on the ability of students to prepare themselves for uncertainty and unexpected challenges. At present, the competing concepts of 21st Century Skills have a common denominator in the core idea of fostering personal development of "T-shaped individuals" who have depth in a particular field and breadth in their skill set and thinking. The students' individual ability to "use the future": make sense of emergent reality, deal with complex problems, make decisions based on collective intelligence, plan and prepare for the future, is as important in making educational choices as in taking educated bets concerning their professional, personal and political futures. The project outcome: a new tool for FL assessment will test the feasibility of rigorous measurement, and assessment of FL, to inform better curriculum design and methodological development.
The textile industry contributes over 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of the world's wastewater, exceeding emissions from international flights and shipping combined. In the European Union, textile purchases in 2020 resulted in about 270 kg of CO₂ emissions per person, yet only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new garments.To address these challenges, the Textile Hub Groningen (THG) aims to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and stakeholders in forming circular textile value chains, hence reducing waste. Designing circular value chains is complex due to conflicting interests, lack of shared understanding, knowledge gaps regarding circular design principles and emerging technologies, and inadequate tools for collaborative business model development. The potential key stakeholders in the circular textile value chain find it hard to use existing tools and methods for designing these value chains as they are often abstract, not designed to be used in a collaborative setting that fosters collective sense making, immersive learning and experimentation. Consequently, the idea of circular textile value chain remains abstract and hard to realize.Serious games have been used in the past to learn about, simulate and experiment with complex adaptive systems. In this project we aim to answer the following research:How can serious games be leveraged to design circular textile value chains in the region?The expected outcomes of this project are: • Serious game: Facilitates the design of circular textile value chains• Academic Publication: Publish findings to contribute to scholarly discourse.• Future Funding Preparation: Mobilize partners and prepare proposals for follow-up funding to expand the approach to other domains.By leveraging game-based collaborative circular value chain and business model design experiences, this project aims to overcome barriers in designing viable circular value chains in the textile industry.
