October 2019

Month: October 2019

Ameland Art Month

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

The Month of Art on Ameland is a cultural highlight with an island-wide exposition where the sea literally marks the border. One of the reasons for organizing the festival is to prolong the tourism season by including the extra month of November. At the festival more than 100 artists exhibit their work, selected by the Month of Art Foundation Ameland. The participating artists are mainly from Northern European countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, and Iceland.

Source: Kunstmaand Ameland – kunstmaandameland.com

Example of strategy 6A:

Stimulate Innovation-driven Events and Festivals

Events and festivals which aim to further develop or showcase innovations are a great tool for stimulating sustainable development. They encourage people to gather together, exchange ideas, and can even be used as a test ground for up-and-coming technologies and/ or sustainable services. Furthermore, events can be strategically dated to attract visitors to the island during the off-season, which can lead to more secure employment opportunities for those within the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Texel Big Day

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

Once a year on the island of Texel, a 24-hour competition takes place for mainland and island birding groups. The goal is to explore the island by bike and identify as many bird species as possible within 24 hours. It is a sponsored event, which takes place annually on the second weekend of May. The event receives approximately €15,000 in funding from sponsors which is made available to the local Texel birding organization. The money is subsequently invested into conservation activities to help protect the island’s endangered bird species like beach plovers, house martins, etc. The initiators and drivers of the competition are local organizations, foresters, as well as National Park Texel, including the regional and island municipality.

Source: beleefdewaddennatuur.nl

Example of strategy 5D:

Organize Community Competitions

Another way to involve the community in new developments is to challenge them and other stakeholders via competitions. The local government can choose to initiate its own competition, like on “who hasthe best idea for a sustainable neighbourhood?”, or choose to supporta competition initiated by industries, SMEs, local science institutes, etc. The awards do not necessarily have to include high-cost premium prizes. Often the honour of winning is significant enough to drive participation.Since nowadays so many competitions are on national television shows, like “The Best Idea of ….” and “Design and Entrepreneurship Competitions” it might be worthwhile to look at their formulas as well, to create a “Best Idea of Island X”, or a student/young entrepreneurs competition with support of local media, etc.

Regional entrepreneurship competition

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

This competition, promoted by the Vice-Presidency of the Government of the Azores and developed by SDEA (Azores Business Development Society, EPER), aims to stimulate entrepreneurship, creativity and entrepreneurial behavior. The purpose is the creation of businesses in Azores stemming from projects in the competition. The Regional Entrepreneurship Competition takes place in three phases, allowing the businessideas presented in the firstphase to enter into a process of development and consolidation, with the objective of ensuring the transposition of the winning projects into business initiatives.

The submitted ideas are evaluated by a jury that selects the best business concepts for a second phase. In the second phase, competitors receive specific training and consulting to enable the transformation of the ideas into effective business plans. The business plans are then submitted to a selection process by the jury in order to determine the three winning projects. The winners receive a monetary prize, these amounts are only granted on the condition that they become part of the companies’ capital stock and are used in the development of the selected business.

Source: DRAE Acores – EU Islands Project

Example of strategy 5D:

Organize Community Competitions

Another way to involve the community in new developments is to challenge them and other stakeholders via competitions. The local government can choose to initiate its own competition, like on “who hasthe best idea for a sustainable neighbourhood?”, or choose to supporta competition initiated by industries, SMEs, local science institutes, etc. The awards do not necessarily have to include high-cost premium prizes. Often the honour of winning is significant enough to drive participation.Since nowadays so many competitions are on national television shows, like “The Best Idea of ….” and “Design and Entrepreneurship Competitions” it might be worthwhile to look at their formulas as well, to create a “Best Idea of Island X”, or a student/young entrepreneurs competition with support of local media, etc.

The JAFA program

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

With regards to innovation as ‘doing things differently’, through communication in Guadeloupe a special program has been set up for disease prevention and health promotion with respect to toxic releases in the environment, starting on April 1st, 2009. The program was launched by IREPS (Guadeloupe’s Agency for Health Education and Promotion) and partners (national services, medical and pharmaceutical sectors and associations). It was financed by the RegionalHealth Agency (ARS), as part of a National Chlordecone Action.

Immediate action was required, since farmers were using several pesticides including those with the very toxic chlordecone. As part of the Guadeloupean identity, gardening is a strong cultural element, but it is under strong market pressure. Therefore, often without knowing it, farmers -forced by real estate agencies on allotments- were seduced to use heavy toxic and carcinogenic pesticides. As a result, people with regular consumption of food (bananas, citrus, etc.) from their polluted gardens are suffering from diseases. Chlordecone has been forbidden in France since 1990 but was sold to Guadeloupe and Martinique until 1993. It is very persistent and can still be found in large quantities in soil and groundwater, stretching across the entire food chain, including fish.

The special JAFA action and communication program has been established to reduce the exposure of the population to chlordecone via changing habits of supply and self-consumption of animal and vegetable products from private allotment gardens. Via the program, door-to-door surveys were carried out with all households living in potentially polluted areas, leading to 10,500 household surveys, 2,560 gardens analyzed, with ca. 950 assessed as strongly overexposed.

A strong communication program, aimed at prevention and protecting health and the environment, has since developed successfully. Engaging support from individuals and communities has been a crucial factor to achieve this. As a result, most of the land has been reappropriated, improved management of potential food pollution takes place, alternative farming techniques are emerging, healthy and accessible food is grown, and more shared gardens are in use. From an absolute disaster, the JAFA community approach has shown to be an opportunity for the start of a change -innovation- contributing to the health and well-being of the people of Guadeloupe in multiple areas.

Source: Nestor, 2018

Example of strategy 5C:

Communicate for Acceptance (E = C x A)

In communication practice, the law of Wibier* says: the effect of an innovation project = communication x acceptance. In other words, important project outcomes and lessons should both be communicated very well and in such a way that broad support from island stakeholders will be gained. Of course, this is a message for innovation project stakeholders, but also to local governments who can play a special role in safeguarding this ‘law of practice’ and stimulating its application.

*Based on and adapted from various original sources and practiced by: Jan Wibier, Director of the Province of Fryslan, The Netherlands, 2004 – 2009

Mega projects Aalborg

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda
An example from the mainland

The region of North Jutland (Denmark) around the city of Aalborg and the AAU Aalborg University, with inputs from industry and other stakeholders, recently have decided to start a number of “Mega Projects” in order to realize the UN SDG Goals. The umbrella projects aims at significant societal change, in which always one or more of the 17 SDG Goals are addressed, over a more-year planning. Knowledge-action-networks are the core of the program, in which collaborative communities engage in themes critical to local and globalsustainability. The first two Mega Projects themes are: The CircularRegion and Simplifying Sustainable Living. Both Mega Projects have been commissioned by Aalborg Municipality. For instance the Circular Economy project includes the following:

  • Concretizing activities to be undertaken in the municipality and in the region;
  • Identifying actual opportunities and solutions for slowing, closing and narrowing resource loops; e.g., how to design for reuse, disassembly and recycling, or how to ensure collaboration between different stakeholders, sectors, anddisciplines, including all curricula of the five AAU AalborgUniversity Faculties.

Source: Stoustrup, 2019

Example of strategy 5B:

Working with the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) 

When developing your local or regional vision, it makes absolute sense to take the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as points of departure. With 17 goals and 169 sub goals and a similar large amount of indicators the endeavour seems at face value quite bureaucratic and a mission impossible. However, these challenges can be overcome by a smart, efficient and well planned local or regional program. 

The attractiveness of the UN 17 SDG Goals is that they involve a holistic approach, with comprehensive, global values: social aspects like poverty, inequality, cultural values, education facilities, gender issues etc. are considered equally or even more important than “classic sustainability” aspects, such as environmental impact and economic viability. (Reubens,  2016). Therefore, frontrunners among countries, regions, cities, companies, universities etc. are quite active in adopting the UN SDG Goals, discussing what  the consequences are, how the goals in an concerted action by all stakeholders can be realized and who can contribute what over time. 

Joint regional programs are designed in such a way that the SDG Goals are integrated in larger themes and tasks are divided over time and between stakeholders, to increase the feasibility. It is absolutely clear that public municipalities and regional entities, as close partners of the national government, have a special responsibility for these initiatives and should adopt a facilitating role in developing a local or regional SDG program on their island. Such a process could go very well hand-in-hand with the approach described above, regarding using Backcasting scenario’s for vision development. 

More info: UN, 2017. The Sustainable Development Goals 2017. United Nations, New York, USA. 

ECO-ACUPUNCTURE

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

According to Idil Gaziulusoy and Chris Ryan, islands and cities canmutually benefit from each other’s experiences.

Chris Ryan cited:
  • A new focus on cities in global action on climate change reflectstheir role:
  • in economic development (from production, innovation and services);
  • as engines of greenhouse gas emissions (both from consumption and production);
  • as potent agents of change (an emerging politicalforce), reflecting rapid urbanization, where over 68%of global population is projected to live in cities by 2050;
  • as shapers of cultural allegiance and belonging (with successful cities generating a potent sense of social identity);
  • as generators of creativity and innovation (related to the density and diversity of social interaction).

Cities are also increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts, both chronic (progressive shifts in weather patterns) and acute (extreme weather events).

Carbon disentanglement and building resilience, becomes a truly transformational challengefor a city; it requires a significantshift in its ‘metabolism’, a realignment of all its systems of provision, its established and interconnected infrastructures of life that make the city productive and habitable…energy, water, food, transport, buildings and open-space, waste disposal, information, products and services.

For every city those systems have developed in response to different resource contexts (regional eco- systems, arable land, seasonal weather, rainfall, rivers and so on), different spatial conditions, different economic histories and utilizing different technologies. Systems of provision become deeply interconnected in different ways, around different physical morphologies. Because of that interconnection, transforming the city …cannot be approached through a reductive process taking each of the systems of provisions in turn; they are not independent variables.

A living city is even more complex; its metabolism is not merely
a function of its ecological- technological-physical systems, it reflects human agency.Architectural and urban history demonstrates how profoundly economic systems, cultures, rituals, practices, aspirations, lifestyles, power structures and so on, are intermingled with the physical form of our constructed world. “Transforming these intermingled technical-physical- ecological-social-cultural systems represents an archetypically wicked problem, where an effort to solve one aspect of the problem may reveal or create others.”To tackle these wicked problems -and their ‘innovation opportunities’- Ryan et al have developed the EcoAcupuncture approach, which in principle also applies for complex problems on islands. In this approach design- led visioning leads to a number of glimpses into the future – visions of desirable, low-carbon and resilient futures.

Next, these visions are used to facilitate strategic conversations among stakeholders in order to develop 3-4 distinct future scenarios and transition pathways. However, this is not the end of the EcoAcupuncture trajectory: in the final step an action plan and specific EcoAcupuncture projects are created and implemented with the involved stakeholders in order to present a ‘taste of
the future’ via the realization of EcoAcupuncture demonstrators. According to Gaziulusoy (2019), islands should start to intensify the use of similar approaches, since they are lacking often a well elaborated future vision, based upon long-term oriented, possible and desirable low-carbon, sustainable scenarios.

Sources: Ryan C. et al, 2019 and Gaziulusoy I. 2019.

Example of strategy 5A:

Create a Challenging Vision

Local or regional governments can help formulate a challenging vision for the future, including urgencies to consider as policy priorities. For instance, many islands are by definition confronted with the consequences of climate change or face a net outflow of young island-born talents, who move to the mainland for career opportunities.

The backcasting scenario approach is an interesting methodology here: Reasoning back from a desirable future scenario to today, while step-by-step envisaging obstacles to overcome and benefits to profit fromalong the journey with the involved stakeholders (Quist, 2007; Quist, 2013). Also mentioned here should be the eco-acupuncture approach of Melbourne based Prof. Chris Ryan et al (Gaziulusoy & Ryan, 2017), using participatory design visioning for sustainable urban transitions. Undoubtedly, this is an interesting approach for sustainable island futures and innovation road mapping.

Figure 5 – Backcasting
Source: Jaco Quist, 2013

AIR Centre AZORES

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

The Azores archipelago is preparing a flagship innovation on oceanographic and climate change research, under the title AIR Centre: Azores International Research. According to Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, this island initiative is aimed at “multilateral cooperation in complex systems engineering and science towards an integrative approach to space, climate change and energy, earth and ocean science in the Atlantic, together with emerging methods of data science. The ultimate goal is to help building the future through an effective commitment to science and knowledge and North-South cooperation. Our commitment is to foster networks of opportunity to help future generations build a better future.

We are entering critical times that require the creation of conditions able to strengthen knowledge-based international cooperation.

“Lessons learned over the last decades … have clearly shown that the future can only be built with more knowledge, more culture and more exchange of ideas. A new paradigm of structured international research relationships is emerging shaped by a new era of government and industry intervention in association with knowledge.”

Source: Manuel Heitor, 2016.

Example of strategy 4D:

Create and Demonstrate Flagship Innovations

In the TIPPING concept, it is a serious co-responsibility of island governments to help entrepreneurial agents create, probe and learn from, as well as communicate on local innovations. With this open- innovation model and innovation funnel in mind, the TIPPING approach proposes to consider policy makers and managers on islands as special, but serious and relevant co-designers and accelerators of potentially powerful regional innovations.

Particularly, for this argumentation, Mazzucato demonstrates that co- creation and long-term cooperation of governments and industry are needed particularly for those common-good innovations that otherwise never would have been addressed by industry alone (Mazzucato, 2018). By structurally helping in and around the innovation funnel, the chancesof local flagship innovation success definitely will be relatively higher and create a unique and competitive position. Once unique flagshipinnovations have been demonstrated on the island, local governments should also contribute to their promotion and export, including the use of soft and informal instruments.

Sustainable Light Plan Texel

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

The development of the sustainable outdoor light plan on the island of Texel (NL) started with a graduation project in 2008 by a MSc student from the Faculty of Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology, in assignment of the Engineering Department of the Municipality.

Instead of “inventing the wheel again” the student built on the outcomes of previous, ground- breaking work of colleague students in the City of Rotterdam.In Rotterdam, not only flexible LEDlights had been applied for thefirst time in public squares and onmain roads, but also “new” light reduction principles, like “no light WHERE not needed” and “no light WHEN not needed.” In the meantime, new, more efficient and attractive lighting frame designs became available, including LED markers fixed at the ground level on roads, as a replacement for old-fashioned and inefficient standard light posts.

Together with new power management systems and a special solar PV-park, the Texel light project built upon and integrated these elements into a fully integrated smart public light system on the island, which was ready in 2015. Using only 35% of the electrical energy needed for the old system, the new solar parkhas sufficient power to make theTexel public light system “energy neutral.”

Example of strategy 4B:

Formulate “Next Practice” Project Proposals

Innovation projects require appropriate project proposals; either aimedat direct industrial financing, or co-financed by local, regional, (inter-)national or other special funds. A way for local governments to gain the best results from these projects, is to demand that -part of- the content in such proposals be built upon best practices, and thereby include the so called “next practices” as the logical follow-up. This approach is very much in line with the step-by-step “probing and learning” theory and practice, which for instance has made the Danish wind industry a world leader. By stimulating researchers and their innovation funnel partners to include next practice elements in their project proposals, innovation on and via islands can be fostered and accelerated in a cumulative way.

Samsoe energy island

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

In Europe, but even globally, Samsoe Island (DK) is seen as a best practice for the transition from a fossil fuel based localeconomy to a self-sufficientsustainable energy island. Each year thousands of international guests visit the island to performa benchmark and to find out indetail which factors and actors have played -and are still playing- an important role in the transition process.

For a comprehensive vision, the researchers at the Energy Academyadvise and help each visitor to go out in the field, visit the solar, wind,and biomass plants and talk with the inhabitants of the island in an informal way, to independently learn from their experiences.

Source: Samsoe Energy Academy energiakademiet.dk

Example of strategy 4A:

(Inter-)national Benchmarking of Best Practices

When it comes to innovation, popular thinking often embraces the idea that only via research and development and completely new technologies innovations are achieved, based upon unique intellectual property rights. However, in contrast to industrial practice, particularly amongst SMEs, the regular approach is to compare the quality of one’s own products with those of
the competition. By “product and service” benchmarking, detailed insight can be gained from relevant solutions by others active on the market. Although this approach is sometimes shed in a negative light because of its association with blind copying, in terms of smart innovation it absolutely makes sense, and that’s the reason its use –particularly in an informal way- is widespread around the world. Experiences with environmental benchmarking of electronic products and other household goods have proven to deliver considerable progress in terms of sustainability for all producers and consumers, contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2017) over the years (Brezet & van Hemel, 1997; Stevels, 2007).

Island governments can apply benchmarking from their island or regional perspective, but also stimulate certain sectors or branches on the island to compare their offerings with those from other islands. Particularly when it comes to the benchmarking of what are generally regarded as European or global “best practices” it makes sense to study, visit and analyse them, to see whether essential elements can be “scenario-free” adopted, even if the context is different. In the TIPPING Approach, the stimulation of best practice benchmarking is considered to be a key element for innovation.

Edukontor

Posted on by Dennis Sieperda

Edukontor is a creative coworking space in the heart of Kuressaare on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia. This coworking space is a place where freelancers, teleworkers and small businesses share office space and exchange ideas and contacts, filling a gap on the rather traditional island.

The office space was opened inMay 2017 and is run as a non-profit organisation. The space was named after a former grocery store called “Edu” (“success” in Estonian) that operated in the building years ago. Creating the office was initiated by a group of people who had moved (back) to the island and were working from a distance or starting their small businesses and were in need for a small working space from time to time.

Today, it’s possible to rent a desk or a room from an hour to a month or become a renter for a longer term. Its great location and a friendly and diverse coworkers’ community make Edukontor a pleasant place to work. Edukontor enables locals to leave their homeoffices, digital nomads to make a longer stop here and anybody outside Saaremaa to open a temporary office in Kuressaare. The organization also arranges events to promote remote and flexible work.

Currently, Edukontor brings together researchers, film distributers, photographers, make-up artists, drafters, drink producers, journalists, IT specialists, trainers, a craftsman, bookkeeper, fire safety specialist, cook, draughtsman, captain, marketer, translator and a designer. Working side-by-side and interacting with people of different backgrounds creates synergy and cooperation. The people with a wide variety of knowhow and experience willingly share their skills by giving lectures or hosting discussion workshops. These events are open-access and thus provide true added value to the people of Saaremaa.

Source: saaremaavald.ee

Example of strategy 3C:

Facilitate the Establishment of Living Labs and Competence Centers

Islands are excellent places to establish living labs. Living labs can mean an environment for experimentation and testing; a methodology/approach, and a system for innovation for generating and testing innovative products, concepts, and services in a real-life environment. Living labs enable people, users/ consumers of services and product, to take active roles as contributors and co-creators in the research, development, and innovation process. The starting point for any living lab is to, in close cooperation with involved stakeholders, develop product and services from the basis of what users really want and need. The main role of the living lab is to engage and empower users to participate in the creation of valuable and viable assets.

Living labs on islands can be central meeting places, often with only simple technical facilities, serving as idea generators and project builders for innovation. The island setting -certain isolation- can serve as an additional factor for experimenting in a contained, real-life environment. Local and regional governments can help initiatives in this area, for instance, in connection with the many arts, crafts, (pop-)music, cultural-, tech-, etc. festivals and events that are commonly organized on islands. Since these festivals attract a lot of young talented people from both on-island and the mainland, an outstanding opportunity emerges to turn festival projects into longer-term programs for living labs on islands.

Islands_of_Innovation_EU_FLAG

© Islands of Innovation, FREIIA and Digital Islands | All rights reserved

Made by Merkmonsters