Connecting ‘things’ like a doorbell, webcam, lamp, or other objects to the web to provide a service or control is called the Internet of Things (IoT). These devices contain vulnerabilities that form risks for the device user and possibly the network owner through their heterogeneity. The identified knowledge gap is the need for more IoT governance but no specification on governance options and means to reach specific stakeholders. Using a dataset of network scan data of The Hague as the empirical context for the defined knowledge gap, this research aims to look into the vulnerabilities IoT devices carry, and then look into relevant stakeholders to see what they can do through governance and why they are not doing this. To answer the main research question: How can the municipality of The Hague use governance instruments to decrease cyber vulnerabilities in IoT devices?
Using a literature study to define IoT concepts and the governance of IoT and current governance examples, background information is provided for the rest of this research. The database of 1649 IP addresses of network scan data from the area of The Hague is then used to find what vulnerabilities are present and what stakeholders are identifiable from this data. Exploring this network scan data showed only 191 devices are fully identifiable from the total number of IP addresses. These devices all carry vulnerabilities for the user of these devices, and being visible is by itself a vulnerability. No device owners could be directly identified, only the providers of the networks these devices are found in. This results in the identifiable stakeholders from the dataset: ISPs and device manufacturers.
Governance options are defined for these stakeholders (e.g. security-by-design, informing users etc.). These options are assessed on viability and validity through semi-structured interviews with three ISPs and the municipality.
The conclusion found is that the most viable action to take is informing device users since secure configuration and usage of a device would take away vulnerabilities while waiting for European legislation to be implemented. This legislation will force more security-by-design. The recommendation for the municipality is to take the role of leading actor, provide a better problematization with the data available, and use this to generate more urgency with other stakeholders. Starting public-private partnerships (with ISPs, device vendors, universities, other municipalities: different perspectives to progress the problem) and starting information campaigns and therefore try to reach as many people as possible. Even though ISPs can not provide in reaching vulnerable users directly, they can help in general information campaigns. Increasing security practices on the user side while waiting for legislation on the manufacturer's side.

The rise of e-commerce has led to a congested last-mile delivery paradigm. Increasing customer expectations have pushed carriers into a delivery market with diminishing profitability. Furthermore, the current state of last-mile delivery has high societal costs in congestion and environmental impact. To address these challenges, scientists in the logistics field have proposed multimodal transport and collaborative delivery. However, current centralized logistics planning systems are unable to cope with the complexity that these solutions pose. For this reason, Thymo Vlot developed a Self-Organizing Logistics algorithm that leverages decentralization to enable multimodal transport and collaborative delivery. However, the logistics planning system that would utilize this algorithm was left undeveloped, which motivates this thesis project. The first step to develop a software project is to define its architecture. In this thesis project, I analyze Thymo Vlot’s algorithm and develop the software architecture of a logistics planning system that would use it. The main design tool consisted of the selection and application of architectural patterns, which are documented solutions to commonplace problems in software development, drawn from the literature and modern distributed systems. The result of this project is an event-driven microservices architecture, which is highly granular, modifiable, and scalable. These characteristics give the project significant commercial value, as the architecture can be applied to different use cases with different algorithms. The project also leaves behind an architecture with small components, which eases the development cycle of the logistics planning system, thus addressing important managerial challenges. Finally, this project makes significant scientific contributions by developing a software solution that addresses managerial, societal, and environmental challenges of last-mile delivery, thus providing a stepping stone for further research that bridges the gap between the logistics and computer science fields.

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to introduce numerous changes, opportunities, and innovations in mobility services, environment, data, value networks, and economy, among others. These automated vehicles are expected to impulse a disruptive change in society, especially within transport technology economics, travel behavior, and network performance. This introduces new challenges and opportunities for the automotive industry and society. Mobility as a Service could take a significant role in the utilization of autonomous vehicles, especially with the current downwards tendency of car ownership in Europe and North America. The scientific literature and consultancy firms reinforce this by providing analysis and predicting a decline of car ownership in the global markets. Nevertheless, there is a need for trust and more secure and tamper-resilient processes within autonomous vehicles and Mobility as a Service ecosystems. Because of this, the idea of this research is to explore what a Blockchain-based Mobility-as-a-Service concept design operated by Autonomous Vehicles would look like, elemental systems, requirements, and possible configurations. This research is conducted from a complex socio-technical point of view that considers a Design Science Research methodology. By doing so, a set of requirements are developed to create a Blockchain architecture, business processes and a reference architecture that will serve as a proof of concept of how a Blockchain-based Mobility-as-a-Service concept design operated by Autonomous Vehicles would look like. Later the artefacts and the process realized in this research are evaluated through a semi-structured interview process. By doing so, some corrections were included in the final design but in general positive impression were given by the experts. This research could be useful to have a first approach on the requirements, BC architecture, business processes and reference architecture of a Blockchain-based Mobility-as-a-Service concept design operated by Autonomous Vehicles. In this regard, Mobility as a Service operators could find this research helpful to start creating or implementing such a system.

The rapid growth of the internet has resulted in increased interconnectedness. Platforms such as Airbnb have been raising rapidly in the past century, as a result of an increased online demand for peer-to-peer market places, on which all kinds of private goods can be shared with peers. This is also referred to as the sharing or collaborative economy. The major effects of the market these platforms provide are forcing local politicians to formulate policy plans on how to dealt with the disruptive innovations. But existing regulatory frameworks are often not complete, showing gaps or even non-existing. As a result, the environment where these peer-to-peer platforms emerge in, consists out of an ’institutional void’. Here, the ’rules of the game’ are lacking which results in high uncertainty and interdependence, leading to actors showing certain behaviour in response. This leads to an unstructured problem to be solved. The aim of this research is to gain understanding on how this interaction process between platform Airbnb and governments is taking place in search for reduction of institutional voids, and to gain insights in the complexity of this interaction. Therefore the objective of this study is to detect patterns occurring in the interaction process answering the research question: How do regulations on peer-to-peer sharing economy platforms in an institutional void come about in capital cities?
In order to answer this question, the interaction process between the peer-to-peer platform Airbnb and governments in two cities (Amsterdam and London) has been reconstructed, as part of a multiple-case set up. This study focuses explicitly on the process. Therefore, the methodological approach process tracing is used to detect patterns. By doing so, different types of data sources have been used: public documents, news articles and a few supporting interviews. These sources have been analysed to reconstruct the course of events and detect the four sensitizing concepts that have been chosen to detect the patterns with in institutional voids: External events, actions, frames and values. ATLAS.ti has been used to code the data available and structure it in an efficient way. Incrementally, all information has been connected to establish a clear understanding of what events have occurred. Using the process tracing method has on the two cases has led to patterns that have been detected based on a numerous observations gained by analysing empirical data. The founded data was structured into four stages of institutionalisation: the ’steady stage’, ’minor adjustments stage’, ’crisis stage’ and the ’framework formulation stage’. The detected patterns were: 1)Actions and external events are clear causes as part of agenda setting, 2)The platform provider develops an adaptive strategy over time, 3)Governments struggle with public versus private contradiction, leading to them experimenting with a mix of alternative instruments over time, 4)The definition of the concept is an ongoing process in which a new phenomenon is parading as something existing: "New wine in old bottles". The found patterns must give better understanding to policy makers of the complexity of the interaction process in an institutional void, to recognize and be able to act upon in similar situations. These patterns have been shaped into hypotheses that can be tested into further research.

The transition towards a sustainable energy system in the built environment is commonly referred to the incremental adoption of a variety of available technologies, practices and policies that may contribute to decrease the environmental impact, at reasonable costs and adequate quality standards. The complexity of the transition requires a sound information provision in order to make decisions which are future proof and optimal in the context of the system dependencies by both public and private parties. This information provision is lacking maturity, and in the era of Big and Open Data, it is believed that data has a significant role to play in the improvement of the information provision towards all stakeholders. This paper presents a study on the information provision in the Dutch energy transition with the focus on the thermal urban transition away from natural-gas. The study adopts the DE approach to answer the following research question: How and under which Data Ecosystem can Open and Big Data be utilized to improve the information provision and support decision-making in the transition towards a sustainable urban thermal energy system, in the Netherlands, given the perceptions and resources of stakeholders?

The publicly funded ESA Copernicus and NASA Landsat earth observation programs are publishing their data as open data in the promise of 30 billion euro of financial benefit for the EU as well as 50.000 new jobs, both by 2023. The move by these two space agencies fits in a larger pattern of ‘new space’, in which the launch and exploitation of satellites are moved from national agencies to private commercial stakeholders. The data offered by ESA and NASA are published as open data intended for reuse with the objective to create viable value-adding earth observation services, i.e. services which use big and open earth observation as a resource for analytics and provide incentives for all participants, including the client and user, to continue the service provision. Furthermore, the earth observation data are big data, as it satisfies the criteria of high volume, variety and velocity increasing the effort required for handling the data. Even though the market for value-adding earth observation services is growing and has the potential to become the most important market in the whole earth observation value chain from rocket to service, the initial promises of the release of the data are not going to be accomplished at the current pace.

Within searched academic literature and during conversations with practitioners, the lack of a structured approach to creating these viable value-adding services has been observed. Furthermore, the research articles on this topic are very much technology-oriented, with only very few articles invoking the interests of stakeholders to make a service design viable. And none of these followed a method for creating the service. This thesis addresses the lack of such a method for the creation of viable services using big and open earth observation data as a resource. Specifically, four knowledge gaps are identified: The first and second knowledge gaps concerned the lack of viable services which used a structured method for their design in the academic literature of respectively the narrow focus area of big and open earth observation data as well as in the larger area of earth observations which includes the previous narrow focus area. The third knowledge gap concerns the lack of factors of big and open earth observation data which influence the viability of a service design within the searched academic literature and the fourth concerns the actual lack of a structured method to guide the design of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource. Together, these knowledge gaps lead to the formulation of the following research objective: “to design a method targeted at service providers for the creation of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource.” The artefact which is developed is a method which guides a service designer through the process of creating a viable service. Following the method results in creating a service design which is both feasible, i.e. technologically possible, and viable, i.e. provides sufficient incentives for all stakeholders involved to carry on its provision. The approach for structuring the creation of the method is the design science research approach for information systems. The demarcation of the problem is the first activity within this approach, and it uses a structured literature review as well unstructured explorative interviews. This is followed by a literature review on influencing factors, using only a structured literature review as a research method. The requirements gathering activity employs a case study method, in which participant-observations and interviews are used for information gathering within three cases. Then, creative methods are used in the design activity to create the artefact. For the following demonstration of the artefact, a case study is again used. Finally, for the evaluation of the artefact a survey based on the combined UTAUT-ECT theory and observations are used to evaluate whether the artefact attains its objectives, and improvements are suggested based on the evaluation and the demonstration. During this research, the author was a research intern at CGI Netherlands in the Space, Defence and Intelligence department, which allowed for rich observations and access to cases.

The result is the SIMEO-STOF method consisting of five phases. It combines the Service Innovation Method for Earth Observation (SIMEO) with the STOF model tailored for the earth observation domain. The first phase guides a designer through the process of finding together with a client a new service idea based on the current capabilities of earth observation analytics and the business processes of the client. Linking the earth observation capabilities to the limitations of current earth observation data supply allows for the rapid exclusion of unfeasible or unviable ideas. Any ideas that pass this initial set of limitations can proceed to the second phase. In this service domain, essential aspects of the value proposition are defined. This is followed by the technology phase, where principles of security and big data computing are set as well as a first architecture of the IT systems. Then, acquisition of external resources and inter-organizational relations are discussed in the organizational phase. Finally, the amount and form of value retained by the service provider are discussed in the financial phase. As a demonstration, the artefact is applied to the case of a crude and refined oil transhipment provider in the harbour of Rotterdam. The result of the application is a service design which is most likely to be viable, considering some issues still need resolving. Whilst not being definitively viable, the identification of issues which require resolution to achieve viability is an outcome which gets as close as possible to a viable design.

The artefact is evaluated for internal and external validity, respectively whether it fulfils the quality requirements and whether it fulfils its objective. Both were included in a survey held amongst employees of a service providing company interested in the use of the SIMEO-STOF method. Whilst the limited number of responses did not allow for any statistical analysis, the descriptive statistics and observations allowed for the concussion of a generally positive evaluation. Measured by the attitude towards using the SIMEO-STOF method, the method fulfils its objective of facilitating the creation of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource. Whilst there is a mixed response to the quality requirements, observations indicate that part of these can be explained by different levels of expectation. Some participants thought of a future use for the artefact and judged the quality requirement based on this instead of the actual objective.

In terms of academic contributions, this research contributes to all four identified knowledge gaps. Foremost, it provides a viable service design method in form of the SIMEO-STOF method. This extends the service design literature to the application domain of earth observations, which has not previously been viewed from this perspective. Furthermore, factors of big and open earth observation data that contribute to the understanding of its effects on viable service design have been identified, in direct response to a further knowledge gap. Ultimately, the result of the SIMEO-STOF method demonstration is a viable service design created with a structured method, which is a contribution to the first and second knowledge gaps. In terms of societal contributions, the SIEMO-STOF method may accelerate growth in the ‘value-added EO services’ market, not only allowing service providers to more efficiently and effectively design viable service and create value, it may also lead to increased market growth on the suppliers side and an argument for open data publishers for the value of their activities. Though the use of the SIMEO-STOF method, EO service providers may be able to achieve the expected breakthrough of EO services within the broader society, which is one of the objectives of the ESA open data portal.

One of the principal limitations of this research comes from the choice of case study as the main research method, which limits the generality of the results. This is valid for the environment form which requirements are gathered, the type of data used and the design perspective of a service provider which is taken. The author suggests further research to include cases which cover aspects previously not included, for example, a business to consumer service, non-satellite earth observation data, and the inclusion of cases from different service providers. Another important limitation concerns the novel application of the UTAUT-ECT theory in a novel wats, including to an information system which is not a practical implementation of a technology but a method. Combined with the reduced number of respondents in the survey, the UTAUT-ECT-model adapted from theory for this research could not be tested statistically. Future research could focus on repeating the novel application of the theory with sufficient respondents to allow for validation of its application.

The objective of this research is the design of a method targeted at service providers for the creation of viable services which use big and open earth observation data as a resource. Considering the successful demonstration, and the generally positive evaluation of the SIMEO-STOF method, the author considers this objective to be attained.

Smart grid systems (SGSs) are often considered as enablers to the transition to a sustainable economy and power system, because they integrate ICT with renewable energy into the electricity grid. Seemingly, there are societal concerns regarding the impact of SGSs, which underlie ethical values. Due to a lack of understanding and thus consideration of public values in the design of SGSs, these emerging innovations are not adopted on a large-scale yet. This research project argues that public values can be acknowledged as relevant factors (i.e. social barriers and drivers) for the adoption of smart grid technologies. As such, contestation of public values might lead to deadlock of technology implementation. This thesis aims to provide insights about ethical values that can be associated with SGSs. For this purpose, a literature review is carried out related to this topic in order to identify and conceptualise values at stake for smart grids and their related technologies. Thereafter, a qualitative content analysis of the British public debate on SGSs (assumed to be represented by national newspaper reports) is carried out in order to empirically uncover the normative stances (i.e. ethical values) of smart grid stakeholders and how those values are related. The result is a network of related values and conceptualisations. This network can be used by the energy industry and policy-makers to tackle challenges in designing for values in SGSs, from both a technical and institutional perspective. As a result, ethically and socially better energy systems can be reached. Additionally, the findings serve as a basis for future research regarding the relative importance of the identified values, the dynamics of the public debate, translation of values into design requirements, and to expand value sensitive design into the energy domain through case studies on SGSs in different countries.

Situation: Information management enables humanitarian organizations to make adequate interventions based on timely, appropriate and trustworthy information. A crucial type of information are identities, because they can be used to assess vulnerability and efficiently manage aid distribution. Vulnerability determines who receives aid first because resources are always limited. This information is increasingly being stored and processed in identity systems.
Complication: Most identity systems are centralized and produce analogue proofs of identity such as passports or ID cards. These systems are susceptible to privacy and data breaches. Centralization leads to single-points-of-failure and could lead to fraudulent behavior resulting in people lacking formal proofs of identity. In general there is limited interoperability between identity systems and limited collaboration between the owners of these systems.
Approach: To create an interoperable and shared digital identity system using a Design Science Research strategy and systems engineering approach. This system must be distributed, protect privacy and put the identity owner in control of his or her data. The foundation of the system consists of Humanitarian Information Management principles, Privacy-by-Design principles and Self-Sovereign Identity principles. This research creates a functional blockchain based system, that enables identities for the use-case of Cash Transfer Programs.
Results: We present a validated set of ten design decisions that represent the trade-offs that have been made and prescribe a blueprint for a technical design.
Next steps:Future research should be done on how such a system could be implemented and used. This would require a process design approach that has to be developed, Also, elaborate research into user experience and user interfaces should be conducted.

In the era of open government, citizens are one of the stakeholders of a country. With the emerging concept of transparency and accountability, supported by ICTs deployments in government areas, citizens have more access to the government. Budget is among the many areas within governments that have utilized ICTs for many purposes, one of them is to share financial data. With this data, citizens can monitor how and where the government spent their taxes. The activity of following and monitoring the money flow is referred to as budget expenditure tracking. Citizens monitoring the flow of money through the website or downloading the raw spending data to the tracking can be seen as online engagement.
Even though ICTs have been largely deployed, an online engagement still has its challenges. In some countries, the effort to provide opportunities for engagement to take place is relatively low. Governments need to provide opportunities for citizens to engage in the BET exercises process. Open spending portal is one of many ways to achieve this goal. Through this portal, governments can publish their spending data, and the public can freely access and reuse the data. However, the realization is not that simple. One of the reasons why online citizen engagement is difficult to realize is the unavailability of guidelines for e-participation. Therefore, there is a need to formulate clear guidelines on how to engage citizens in open spending portals for budget expenditure exercises. This research aims at developing a set of design principles that can enhance citizen engagement in open spending portals. Using Design Science Research, the author developed a set of design principles that can be grouped into two categories based on their purposes: to enable active citizens and to enable pro-active citizens. In total, there are 22 principles that have been developed to enhance citizen engagement in BET exercises through open spending portals. Since the principles are not yet implemented in existing designs, the evaluation was conducted to see the relevance between the developed design principles and existing problems. The potentiality of the developed design principles in enhancing citizen engagement was confirmed. However, future research needs to be done to assess the impact of the developed design principles in real life.

Blockchain technology provides new methods of value transferring and data coordination, which could potentially benefit the changing management needs for the Dutch electricity sector. However, little research is done on how such a blockchain should be implemented and how it could best cooperate with the electricity markets. The goal of this report is thus to identify market design interventions that will best facilitate blockchain in the Dutch electricity sector. To reach this goal, three phases are performed; literature and stakeholder analysis for use case research, transaction cost theory application for use case selection, and a design process to redesign and evaluate the Dutch intraday electricity market. The conclusion of the design process is that the currently functional intraday market design would work best in cooperation with a data coordination blockchain, which shares bidding information between traders. The data coordination blockchain would in this case provide only limited added benefit over conventional data sharing systems, but could provide a valuable first step towards the implementation of more elaborate blockchain systems in the electricity sector.

The global market for real estate has experienced a significant growth since the financial crisis in 2008. The current global value amounts to more than $200 trillion and comprises nearly 60% of the value of all global assets, including equities, bonds, and gold. Yet, the commercial real estate market is inefficient and opaque due to its complicated due diligence processes and strategic behavior in complex multi-actor environments. Blockchain technology is often suggested as a disruptive technology that could increase efficiency, transparency and minimize transaction costs in various markets. Studies on blockchain point out that the technology has enormous potentials in the financial and real estate sector, but obviously has to overcome obstacles both business-, technological-, and adoption-wise. Even though the technology is still nascent, potential disintermediation of intermediaries such as notaries, banks, escrows and in particular brokers is a significant threat for them as they might no longer be necessary, at least in the same way. A qualitative explorative case study research combined with the application of Transaction Cost Economics is used to construct a decision path that can be followed to assess the applicability of blockchain technology and subsequently determine its impact on the sources of transaction costs. Following this decision path, we found that as of now, blockchain appears not to be the most suitable technology to function as a real-time, up to date database during commercial real estate transactions. Future research is suggested to focus on identifying the potential application and implications of property-specific building passports using smart contracts.

Due to the complexity of aircraft spare part management, the aviation supply chain and ecosystem are not deemed as transparent as desired. As a result, participants face additional cost of communication and compliancy as proprietary component data is not made immediately accessible. To solve these problems, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) providers currently consider to use Blockchain to track and trace aircraft spare parts. Guided by Business Model Stress Test, this thesis evaluates the robustness of MRO business models when they use Blockchain as an aircraft spare part track and trace capability. Blockchain as an aircraft spare part track and capability is not only strategically relevant for cost-conscious innovating MROs, it also does not impose a risk to the robustness of their business model in most scenarios. MROs should engage in a regulatory-backed Blockchain consortium through which they share limited component data throughout the entire industry. If this is not possible, they can retreat from the consortium under the notion that their business model is threatened. Even though Blockchain could improve aviation supply chain and ecosystem transparency, the feasibility of the consortium is questionable. To remedy this concern, future research should focus on identifying strategic incentives for Original Equipment Manufacturers and aircraft operators to participate in the Blockchain consortium.

The European Union is exploring the possibilities of blockchain for their services and processes as a bottom-up approach to the coordination of citizens and economic administrators. However, the multi-actor complexity and the systems complexity of blockchain technology makes decision-making in this subject a difficult task, resulting in a proliferation of blockchain experiments that do not provide significant value. To capture the benefits of blockchain in processes where this technology is applicable in the EU, a blockchain assessment tool is needed that allows for the structural assessment of the fit with blockchain for an information exchange or registration process. This thesis uses a Design Science to design this blockchain assessment tool.

Six elements were found to be of importance for blockchain experimentation in EU Institutions and Bodies: Complexities, Process Factors, Ripple Effects, Organizational Factors, Decision-making Process and Design Features. It is critical to take the complexities involved in implementing blockchain in public administrations into account. Also, the factors that define the fit between the process and blockchain technology need to be considered as insight in this fit can enhance decision-making regarding blockchain experimentation in EU Institutions and Bodies. In addition, there are a number of organizational factors that determine the ability of a governmental organization to adopt blockchain technology. Given the institutional change that blockchains might present, it is critical to take into account the ripple effects of blockchains when deciding to experiment with blockchain technology as an EU Institution or Body. As there is not merely one decision-making process for IT innovation adoption, the process of how a decision on blockchain experimentation is reached needs to be considered as well. Lastly, as blockchain technology compromises of various types and design features, it is important to reflect on the impact of these features on the process criteria.

Using explorative expert interviews combined with Qualitative Data and Matrix Prioritization Analysis, the elements are concretized and translated into requirements for the blockchain assessment tool. Based on these requirements, the blockchain assessment tool is designed using a Morphological Chart to structure the design process. The blockchain assessment tool consists of three steps that allow a user to assess the blockchain fit, create a high-level blockchain design and to map the ripple effects. The blockchain assessment tool was demonstrated in two case studies exploring the possibilities of blockchain for an EU registration or information exchange system, for which the tool proved to provide key insights. Also, experts were interviewed to evaluate the tool, which demonstrated the need for this blockchain assessment tool for the public sector.

Future research is suggested to focus on the trade-offs between the design features to provide a better view on the possible blockchain architectures. Also, more research into the openness and interoperability of blockchain systems could create more depth in the debate of permissionless versus permissioned blockchains in governments. Lastly, research into applying Value Sensitive Design for blockchains could enable the design of permissionless blockchain systems where authorities can be supervisors to protect public values in permissionless blockchains.

In recent years, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MoD) modelled, standardized, and digitally secured many of its organization-broad business processes. However, MoD experiences great difficulty in gaining insights in these processes and steering them productively. The novel business process analyses method Process Mining appeared to be a promising instrument. However, MoD lacks experience with process mining as a way to analyse and subsequently improve processes. In addition on how to apply process mining, MoD wants to learn the requirements for starting a process mining project.

The thesis starts with a literature study on eight business process improvement methodologies (BPIs), viz. Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Lean MRO, Total Productive Maintenance, Business Process Reengineering, and Business Process Improvement. These BPIs are compared with each other in an overview based on nine characteristics. Then, a ninth BPI is studied: process mining. The literature on this topic is scattered, but a study is conducted on several element. After that, pros and cons are discussed and process mining is placed in the overview of BPIs.

A combination of desk and field research leads to the improvement of the best practise methodology PM². And this improved methodology, called PM³, is further within MoD. Next to that, a process mining decision framework is developed according to the waterfall model. This framework can score business process models on several characteristics. The resulting total score determines whether process mining can successfully be applied to improve the process.

For MoD, process mining can be a valuable instrument for improving processes. It can convert a gut feeling into clear numbers and models, which can form the start of an improvement project. It is thus recommended to make process mining available to the organisation.

The thesis gives a good insight in the possibilities of process mining, but it also comes with several opportunities for future research. For example, PM³ has demonstrated itself in the field, but this have not yet led to measurable improvements (only important insights in the processes). Future research is required to verify its true potential. Second, the decision framework is tested by assessing fourteen of MoD’s processes and evaluated by discussion it with ten system experts. Yet again, empirical research is probably the only way to truly verify it, but this was not possible during the thesis. Third, both PM³ and the decision framework focus on MRO within MoD. It is unlikely that a change of domain or organisation makes a significant difference, but the possibility should be taken into account and further investigated. And finally, a significant limitation of the framework is that it only scores on process mining. So, if it presents a very low score, it does not suggest an alternative BPI. This fell outside the scope of the thesis, but is nevertheless an interesting research opportunity.

The incidence of natural disasters worldwide is increasing. As a result, there is a growing number of people in need, whereas limited resources to help these people are available. It is therefore important to effectively and efficiently prioritize the most vulnerable people in the preparedness phase, and the most affected people in the response phase of humanitarian action. Data-driven models have the potential to help in doing so. However, to be able to apply these models in a country, a certain level of data preparedness is required. Therefore, there is a need to understand how to facilitate, stimulate and coordinate data-sharing between humanitarian actors. To realize this, a generic governance structure is needed that can facilitate the achievement of this level of data preparedness on a large scale. This thesis aims to develop this generic governance structure using a data ecosystem perspective, by providing insight in the success criteria for establishing a ‘humanitarian data ecosystem’. As no scientific literature exists on this topic, as a first step, a general framework with data ecosystem governance success criteria is developed by means of a systematic literature review. Subsequently, the applicability of this framework in the humanitarian sector is assessed through a case study on the ‘Community Risk Assessment and Prioritization toolbox developed by 510 Global, the data team of the Netherlands Red Cross. It is found that the data ecosystem approach provides a suitable framework for assessing the criteria to be addressed when aiming to establish a successful humanitarian data ecosystem. Moreover, the empirical findings resulting from the case study led to the creation of a generic governance structure to be used when determining on the approach to adopt when rolling out the Community Risk Assessment and Prioritization toolbox in a new country.

Improving energy efficiency is marked as one of the key strategies to tackle global warming. Therefore policy makers try to design policies that steer our society towards a more energy efficient way of living. An important target for policy makers is the residential sector. Households use fuel and electricity, to power all sorts of residential technologies and appliances. However, they often do not adopt the most energy efficient technologies available to them. There is no simple answer as to why households do not adopt energy efficiency sufficiently. This is because the adoption of energy efficient technologies can be described as a complex adaptive system. The decision making of households is dependent on complex attitudes, preferences, perceptions and needs. Nevertheless, policy makers try to influence the adoption decisions of households through the use of multiple policy measures. Academics have developed an interest in the potential effects of intermediary parties on the adoption of energy efficient technologies by households. We can specify an intermediary as: a party that is necessary for the adoption of energy efficient technologies, but cannot accomplish energy efficiency by itself.

In this thesis project policies that include the role of the intermediary in residential technology adoption are compared to other energy efficiency policies by means of an agent-based model. Recommendations on future agent-based models on the role of the intermediary and efficiency policies are made.