Multiple challenges affect the effectiveness of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, such as accountability, intergenerational justice and developing countries’ increased participation in greenhouse gas emissions. The high complexity of information surrounding models’ assumptions, results, and scenarios related to climate change also presents a challenge, especially when communicating with policymakers. In this context, support tools such as policy platforms can help bridge the science-policy gap by allowing policymakers to understand scenarios and available policy levers, enabling a better understanding of relevant concepts and models or serving as hubs for disseminating best practices and success stories. Available literature often evaluates support tools within the context of use by regular citizens, making it unclear how policymakers perceive support tools and how well they meet their needs, pointing to an important knowledge gap. This thesis explores policymakers’ and policy advisors’ perceptions of the usefulness of climate change mitigation and adaptation (CCMA) policy platforms and the characteristics of such policy platforms they prefer in order to use them as support tools. A collective case study was conducted with ten CCMA policy platforms within the context of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 programme. In addition, interviews (11) and surveys (9) with policymakers and policymakers’ advisors in the Netherlands and seven other countries within and beyond the EU were conducted. Nine characteristics of CCMA policy platforms were identified: Transparency & Credibility of information, Ease of use, Flexibility of use, Accessibility & Portability, Education & Awareness, Communication of complex information, Data visualisation & interactivity, Actively maintained and supported, and Security & privacy. Interviews and surveys show that accessibility, relevance, applicability, and credibility were identified as the primary factors driving the perception of policymakers about the usefulness of CCMA policy platforms and four groups of characteristics were identified with decreasing levels of priority for policymakers: mandatory or must-have (formed by communication of complex information, free and open access to the tool, transparency regarding data sources and limitations, and high level of detail for spatial and temporal data); highly desirable or should-have (formed by availability of training and learning functionalities, availability of detailed documentation on concepts and models, interactive and easy-to-navigate elements, and availability of a web-based platform); ‘nice to have’ or could-have (user stories from policymakers or communities, availability of very recent data, ability to import user data/export results, and ability to modify parameters and run custom analyses), and indifferent (availability of languages beyond English and the ability to use the tool in mobile phones or tablets). Four main recommendations are made to improve the design and use of CCMA policy platforms: Incorporating systematic reviews of existing CCMA policy platforms as part of projects developing such platforms, involving boundary organisations in the development and use of CCMA policy platforms, developing CCMA policy platforms with longer life expectancies and developing CCMA policy platforms flexible for different needs and preferences of policymakers. With these results, new CCMA policy platforms can be developed with a better understanding of how useful policymakers perceive them and what they want from these support tools.

In recent years, the medical world has seen rapid digitalisation. Digitalisation of healthcare and the opportunities of remote monitoring can help to keep the healthcare system affordable and accessible. A promising application of remote monitoring is the use of consumer-grade wearables for clinical care. However, vulnerabilities leave consumer-grade wearables susceptible to cybersecurity and privacy risks. When the wearables gain clinical care functionality, increased risks are problematic for the success of the technology. This research examined this problem by analysing the role of users in the cybersecurity and privacy environment and the impact of human factors on the cybersecurity and privacy system of medical wearables. Vulnerabilities and associated risks were identified with the help of notions from human-centric cybersecurity. To establish a user-centred approach to tackle these risks, the user needs and limitations were examined by performing a quantitative survey research. Based on the results of the survey and the human-centric components of user, usage, and usability, guidelines for the user-centred approach were formulated. These guidelines were subsequently linked with the challenges and attacker-oriented and user-oriented risks to establish recommendations for medical wearable providers. Providers can use these to steer the design of the cybersecurity and privacy system and the structuring of the system environment. The research showed that by taking into account the needs and limitations of users, the cybersecurity and privacy system design can be more effective in tackling user-oriented risks. The research concludes that a user-centred approach to cybersecurity and privacy can contribute to the successful use of consumer-grade wearables for clinical care purposes.

Despite the potential benefits regarding data-sharing in the container supply chain, stakeholders still can be skeptical towards data-collaboration. Due to conflicting goals and objectives of companies and the competitive nature of the industry, data-collaboration cannot be easily achieved. Previous research has little touched upon combining inter-organizational governance and data governance. Based on a case study about data-collaboration in the container supply chain and previous data governance research, a new data governance framework with possible data-sharing archetypes is developed. Three data governance archetypes are suggested in order to further enhance data-collaboration: regulate data, buy & sell data and data-fordata. Future research should focus on the further validation of the found archetypes, valorization of data and the legal basis of data-ownership.

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.

The usage of Industry 4.0 technologies isgaining a lot of popularity in the context of manufacturing industries. Theyoffer improvements to the traditional manufacturing environment by offeringmore connectivity and integration in the business processes. Many companies aremoving towards these technologies to harness these improvements. Using Industry4.0 technologies improves performance, efficiency and even competitive advantage.Whereas, it is not known how it affects supply chain resilience-ability of thesupply chain to react to disruptive events and quickly regain performance. Thereis a chance that Industry 4.0 changes the competencies of an organisation andmakes it more vulnerable to disruptions. The objective of this research is to ascertainhow Industry 4.0 influences supply chain resilience and in what ways it can beused to improve the latter.For investigating this problem, aqualitative case study design was used. The usage of Industry 4.0 technologieswithin the chlor-alkali supply chain was analysed. Literature reviews ofIndustry 4.0 and supply chain resilience were conducted to gain a betterunderstanding. The usage of the following Industry 4.0 technologies was considered- Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Cloud computing, EnterpriseResource Planning, and Big data analytics. Data were gathered throughsemi-structured interviews with two respondents. The study finds that Industry 4.0 has a limitedpositive influence on supply chain resilience when the disruption arises withinthe supply chain. But, when there is disruption arises outside the supplychain, it has no impact or sometimes a negative impact on supply chainresilience. Additionally, this study proposes three strategies that can be usedto implement Industry 4.0 to have a positive impact on resilience. They are themapping of critical processes, design and programming of the system, andvisibility enhancement within the supply chain. These strategies can be used by managerswhen they are evaluating the implementation of Industry 4.0 within theirorganisations and supply chains. This is a unique study that bridges theknowledge gap and assesses the influence of Industry 4.0 on supply chainresilience.  

In order to combat financially-economically related crime the government implemented a new directive ensuring that virtual currency exchanges now have to adhere to requirements from legislation countering money laundering. This thesis researches what the extent is of effects that this legislation posed to the daily operations of virtual currency exchanges.

The use and value of Open Government Data (OGD) are gaining increasing attention from governments, corporations, and individuals. Governments have developed portals and started initiatives to share, promote and facilitate OGD interactions. The key objectives of the release of OGD by public entities are public responsibility, economic expansion, and operational and technical values. However, the potential of OGD is limited by the ability to reuse public data. Although OGD is becoming more available, the value realisation of OGD is hindered by its limited use. Within the OGD ecosystem, data intermediaries, especially Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), have been playing a role within the OGD ecosystem, perhaps making OGD more usable for users. We assume that the barriers that are most likely to hinder the potential of OGD are more linked to the barriers to using OGD other than structural or provisioning barriers. Furthermore, the barriers to using OGD might be more influenced by the activities provided by the non-profit data intermediaries (NPDIs). Given the anticipated transformation potential of OGD and the current barriers to reusing OGD, it is necessary to investigate how the existence and activities of the NPDIs affected the barriers to using OGD. This study explores the impact of the NPDIs’ activities, particularly their impact on barriers to OGD use. We introduced the following research question: How do European non-profit data intermediaries reduce the barriers to using OGD? Adopting an explorative case study approach, we first identified the barriers to using OGD through the use of a literate review method. We introduced three categories of barriers in which these barriers originated. These categories are OGD portals, OGD datasets and OGD users’ abilities. Furthermore, we conducted a narrative literature review to analyse and identify the roles and activities of the open data intermediates. We identified seven roles that summarise the set of functions of responsibility that open data intermediaries assume and fourteen activities by specifying certain actions or tasks that open data intermediaries fulfil. Based on the literature review, we could not link the activities to the barriers. However, we conceptualised the barriers to using OGD and the activities of the open data intermediaries separately. Following this, we conducted desk research by analysing NPDIs’ websites, complemented by interviews with the selected NPDIs to analyse their activities and roles in the OGD ecosystem toward reducing the barriers to using OGD. Our findings of the activities of the NPDIs showed that NPDIs have a different scope and objectives, often a social goal, compared to open data intermediaries who might be, for instance, interested in profit. However, the roles and activities of NPDIs, are similar to open data intermediaries in terms of their operations. NPDIs do not necessarily focus on specific roles or activities but rather provide a wide range of services and conduct various activities. This may be driven by the overarching social goal where they try to offer a complete solution that does not lack in some areas. However, some of the activities we identified might be specific to NPDIs, such as promoting the use of OGD, allowing OGD users to disseminate their OGD-driven insights and improving and facilitating the process of using OGD. We conducted nine semi-structured interviews with individuals from NPDIs and their users to learn how they perceive NPDIs are reducing the barriers to using OGD. Through coding the interview transcripts, we applied a thematic analysis approach to the data obtained from the interview. We have identified six themes that represent how NPDIs reduce the barriers to using OGD. These themes are; building OGD capacity and expertise, improving OGD accessibility quality and usability, empowering OGD users, OGD process optimisation, promoting and advocating OGD-related activities and policies, and facilitating and improving stakeholders’ collaboration and engagement. The findings showed that NPDIs mainly emphasised improving OGD capacity, accessibility, availability, and findability. Then, we conducted a focus group session to triangulate our case study data. Three participants participated in our session, two represented the NPDIs perspective, and one represented the user perspective. We concluded that NPDIs’ activities reduce the barriers to using OGD, such as OGD users’ ability, OGD accessibility, and quality of OGD datasets and portals. However, quantifying their impact or linking their activities to some of the barriers they reduce is challenging due to the multiple impacts of the NPDIs’ activities. Our study attempted to address the gap in the literature regarding the NPDIs’ impact in reducing the barriers to using OGD. Also, our study provided insight into how NPDIs reduce the barriers to using OGD; we identified their characteristics and strategies, which contribute to setting the groundwork for future research exploring the link between NPDIs activities and barriers to using OGD. Our results underline the value of NPDIs to the OGD ecosystem. Policymakers or key NPDIs persons can leverage the results of this study to capitalise on the identified opportunities, such as trying to make NPDIs efforts more proactive in anticipating the barriers of OGD to contribute to better use of OGD ultimately.

This thesis focuses on designing a process for balancing and prioritizing the digital innovation project portfolio of a rental equipment company. The company operates in a traditional industry in which themes like digital transformation and digitalization are new emerging themes that are yet to be accepted by the industry. Therefore, in order to keep their businesses future proof, rental equipment companies need to focus on planning their digital project portfolio to meet their strategic requirements. This research was carried out in collaboration with Riwal Holding Group, a specialist in ariel work platforms (AWP) to design a process to manage their digital project portfolio and to check how feasible the process would be in a real-life setting.

Cybercrime thrives and online anonymous markets, or darknet markets, play an important role in the cybercriminal ecosystem. Vendors active on darknet markets invest in security mechanisms to compromise the availability or usefulness of evidence to Law Enforcement Agencies. Therefore, difficulties arise in linking identities or machines to cybercrimes facilitated by darknet markets. As a result, many cybercrime investigations are ineffective. This thesis consists of an exploratory case study based on the full administration of the Hansa Market. The Hansa Market (2015-2017) was infiltrated and eventually taken over and shut down by the Dutch Police. The data used in this thesis originates from the server that hosted the market and is made available by the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) and the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD). This data is used to answer the research question: “Which factors influence the security behaviour of darknet market vendors active on Hansa Market?”. To answer this question, vendors that are similar regarding a) their experience, b) the activity on other markets, c) the amount of physical items sold, e.g. drugs and d) the amount of digital items sold, e.g. stolen credit card information, are clustered into five `vendor types' using Latent Profile Analysis. It is researched whether these clusters of vendors differ in terms of the following security behaviours observed: a) authentication related security practices (password strength, password uniqueness and two-factor authentication usage), b) encryption of communication, in the form of PGP-adoption and PGP-key strengths used, c) the linkability of a vendors' pseudonym through PGP-key matching and d) a vendors' choice of Online Financial Service Providers within the bitcoin ecosystem, measured by querying a service that provides contextual information on bitcoin transactions and addresses. The findings indicate that approximately causal relationships may be inferred between on the one hand vendor types, that represent a combination of business success in terms of physical and digital sales, experience and activity on other markets and on the other hand security behaviour. Vendors offering digital items tend to behave less securely than vendors selling large amounts of drugs. This thesis explains the observed (differences in) suboptimal security behaviours by arguing that vendors on Hansa Market conduct subjective risk assessments. This implies that the probability of being targeted by LEA and the value of the vendors' assets that are at stake (e.g. informational assets containing incriminating evidence or `years of freedom') are of influence on security behaviour. Lastly, recommendations to Law Enforcement Agencies include to exploit the subjectiveness in cybercriminals' risk assessments and to consider focusing on vendors transacting digital items. Academics are recommended to extend this research by investigating cybercriminal security behaviours through improved measurement methodologies in larger and more recent datasets.

Master data is used to describe the critical entities of an organization, including customers, products, suppliers and employees. There are many challenges associated with the management of master data in large and distributed organizations. Master data management (MDM) has been proposed as way to integrate and combine data from different sources in order to provide a unified view for the main business entities. This study focuses on the supplier domain and aims to explore the challenges of managing the supplier information in large and international companies, within the supplier-organization collaboration and from an enterprise-wide perspective. The identification of a supplier can result from the combination of accurate and complete name and address information. Problems in this information can be due to hybrid system landscape, multiple ERP kernels or lack of enterprise-wide uniform data rules and standards. Common supplier master data problems include the incomplete or inaccurate name and address combination, incomplete address information, international name or address and duplicated supplier records. Although actions can be taken to manage these issues, a reactive approach to the supplier master data problems is not the optimal solution. A proactive mindset needs to be adopted by organizations to avoid these problems. There is need for the supplier information to be in a central place and with unified format and data rules, so that data redundancy and duplication problems can be eliminated. Therefore, supplier MDM is proposed to help organizations create and maintain consistent and accurate supplier information. This study aims to develop an assessment tool for companies to assess their supplier MDM practices and capabilities. Thus, the objective of this study is the design of a model to determine a company’s maturity in supplier master data management. This thesis uses the Design Science Research (DSR) approach to develop a maturity model. Five research questions are formulated, each one representing one of the design science phases. For the research questions to be answered, academic literature is consulted, and a single-case study is conducted in the procurement department at Philips.

This thesis discusses the way individuals in their role as citizens make trade-offs between open education data attributes. The Dutch government agencies lack of insight in the citizen preferences for open data policy attributes lead them to evaluate and develop their open data policy only from the data provider perspective. In order to address the problem, this research aims to identify the citizens preferences for the open education data policy using the citizens stated choice experiments. The experiment is based on Random Utility Maximization theory, the study infers the citizen preferences of open education data attributes based on their choices for several hypothetical open education data policy. The study combines 4 attributes with 3 attribute levels to create the hypothetical open education data policy: mode of information presentation, number of free engaging hackathon events, number of free citizen data skill training events, and risk of your personal data exposed to the public. The citizens significantly value risk of your personal data exposed to the public and mode of information presentation. Government agencies have limited option if it wants to extend the open education data implementation because citizens reluctance to compromise the data protection attribute. This research is a first attempt to extend citizen stated choice experiment approach for the valuation of citizen preferences in the context of open education data policy. It provides an alternative method for governments to evaluate and develop their open data policy alongside the commonly used government/data provider perspective

The intellectual disability population increased from 65.545 people in 2011 to 116.200 people in 2020. In other words, the population almost doubled in less than ten years' time. Interventions are required to be able to make sure everyone receives the needed care. Therefore, the causes for the growth should be further examined before any decision on intervention can be taken. This thesis contributed to understanding the factors influencing the increase in the intellectual disability population and evaluating the behaviour of the sector. To improve the understanding, a System Dynamics model was designed analysing the influence of self-reliance on the intellectual disability population. The question of why there is an increase in the intellectual disability population has been attempted to be answered within this study. After evaluating multiple factors as a cause for the growth in the intellectual disability population, self-reliance was selected as being an important factor. In the conceptual model, three reinforcing feedback loops were found, indicating that when there is no intervention, the self-reliance of the intellectual disability population continuously decreases, resulting in more people applying for care from the Wlz. In the qualitative model, this proposition could not be rejected, indicating the importance of the role of self-reliance on the growth of the intellectual disability population. Especially for the population with an IQ score between 70 and 85, more attention should be paid to the increase or maintaining of self-reliance. In that way, the intellectual disability sector is always able to care for the ones who cannot live without.

There have been huge investments being made in direction of citizen science projects to enhance the engagement between science and society. To achieve goals and for the success of citizen science projects, a crucial element is getting more researchers to participate in citizens science projects. Besides harmoniously sustaining the participation of existing researchers who are already engaged in citizen science. While doing this, we identified two primary knowledge gaps: one, there is limited and insufficient research that articulates the perspectives of researchers to understand what motivates them to participate in citizen science. Two, even the limited available literature, is published by the researchers who are involved in citizen science projects themselves. That has more chance of publication bias and lacks critical scrutiny. For instance, these literatures give the impression that participation from researchers is because of their enthusiasm to enhance scientific awareness in society and to drive citizen’s positive attitudes towards science. Despite there have been projects where the participation from the researchers have not been particularly great.Q-method was identified as the suitable method to identify the perspective of the researchers, as it has been successfully applied in a range of disciplines from political science to environmental science. This method uses Q-factors analysis, that makes the researchers the variables of analysis. Stephenson (1953) argued, if there existed significant clusters of correlations in the participant’s profile, these clusters could be factorised and described as shared perspective and individuals could be measured in relevance to them. Overall, seven distinct perspectives of the researchers related to participation in citizen science are identified. These perspectives are divided into three broad groups based on their inclination to participate in citizen science projects. It is interesting that these groups exactly correlate with the experience of the researchers, that shows that perspectives are in association with on-ground thoughts. Group 1: represents the perspective of researchers who have intrinsic motivation to participate in citizen science and these researchers are experienced in citizens science. These perspectives are revealed by perspective 1 & perspective 2. These researchers are expected to participate on their own. Group 2: represents perspective of researchers who have no interested or inclination to participate in citizen science projects, as they consider it not suitable method answer their research question. These researchers have no experience in citizen science. These perspectives are revealed by perspective 4 & perspective 5. Group 3: these researchers are inclined to participate in citizen science, but some inhibitors in citizen science practise are preventing them to participate in citizen science. Perspectives of this group are revealed by perspective 3, perspective 6 & perspective 7. The policy recommendation is suggested to citizen science association, institutions framing ethical policy and to researchers. This research contributes in three different ways, one it provides critical scrutiny of the literature published on perspectives of researchers, by comparing with what is discussed in the literature with on-ground thoughts of researchers. Two, this research identifies latent perspectives that have not been disused in the field of citizen science. Three, the research identifies controversies in the perspectives of researchers. However, research has limitations due to choices made during the research. One, no concrete conclusions, could be made specific to any scientific discipline or level of engagement between high-level involvement actors, due to the broad scope of the research. Two, research focuses on participation between high-level involvement actors. Three, the use of free sorting of statements to reduce the time for answering the survey. For future research, two controversies in the perspectives of researchers are identified that can be scope for entire new research in the field of citizen science. One, compensation of citizens in citizen science projects. Two, different model to increase scientific literacy are identified between perspective 6, perspective 7 and perspective 1.

In recent years the growth in the amount of available data has increased enormously. More and more companies, government organizations and citizens are becoming data dependent. Simultaneously with this growth in the availability of the amount of data, there is increasing interest in opening up this data. Open data is data that is freely available to everyone, can be reused by everyone and can be redistributed by everyone again. Up to now, it is mainly government organizations that make the data publicly available or use open data sources themselves. However, various studies have indicated that a great potential for open data is still unused. If a larger part of the current available data were to be opened up, much (economic) value could be achieved. However, these studies do not determine for commercial companies. These companies are currently lagging behind in opening up their data because they do not see the potential of this. Opening up data is seen as unnecessary insight for the competition and a loss of the market position and the annual turnover. To show companies the value of open data, this research aims to design a method that companies can apply. By applying this method it becomes clear to companies which data in the current structure of their business system has the potential to be opened up and subsequently what value this opened-up data yields for the company. This methodology, named "Open Data Implementation Methodology (ODIM)" in this study, was designed using the design science research approach. The various phases in this approach made it clear which factors are important of open data at commercial companies and, among other things, offered a framework for setting up the method. By going through all the phases in the design science approach, the methodology could be designed, tested and evaluated. In the first phase, the identification of the problem and the motivation, an extended literature review showed, among other things, that most research into open data focuses on government organizations. From these investigated projects the most striking challenges have been identified to be included in the design of the method. These challenges within open data projects are in the technical, social, legal and economic areas. Analyzing the literature also confirmed that conducting a case study is a suitable method to test open data projects. All these elements were then included in the design of the ODIM. Because analyzing the value of open data projects at companies has to do with the design and organization of new systems at companies, it was investigated what a suitable design method was for the ODIM. Due to the iterative nature and previously proven functions, the design engineering approach has been chosen according to Dym and Little. This method was used to subsequently adjust it so that it is suitable for open data implementation projects at companies. The method, the artefact in the design science aproach of this study, follows different phases that companies can go through. By mapping the current system in detail, determining requirements of open data in the new system and analyzing for example the costs, revenues and use of the data by current users, a concept system design can be drawn up with a central role for open data. This design shows which datasets are suitable for opening up and what changes this entails within the business processes. By testing this new system with experts currently working with the system, the value of the open data in the new system can be determined and changes can be added. The results of the method for a company are ultimately insights into current systems and the value of open data in a newly designed system. This open data implementation methodology was demonstrated in this study at the commercial company PostNL Data Solutions in the Netherlands. The new open data system and the ODIM have been validated through an expert panel workshop. The results were that open data was seen as a very valuable change compared to current business processes. The value of open data was primarily recognized in the economic, cultural and organizational area. According to the experts who participated in the workshop, opening the data ensures that innovation is stimulated and new and better products and services can be built. The transparency of the company and the accuracy of the data will also increase in this new system. Risks are that it can cost a lot of money and time to set up current IT systems for open data and that privacy can pose risks to users. To be able to apply this method to other companies as well, the benchmarks for value creation must be made more specific to companies. Value creation is very context dependent, which makes it difficult to apply the ODIM broadly. By means of the ODIM, it is possible to make clear how current data systems are structured at companies and determine which data sets are suitable for being opened up. The conclusion of this research is that open data can create value at commercial companies by reorganizing current systems. The open data implementation method helps companies to gain insight into this and to determine the value of open data for their company. Further research is needed into the broad applicability of the method by examining multiple cases and into benchmarks for value creation. In addition, an implementation plan must also be developed in order to successfully build the developed system with open data.

Research shows that CIOs of both public and private organizations are searching for new ways to support better outcomes of their data-driven decision-making. As linking external data with internal company data can result in interesting new insights and value, CIOs are increasingly developing IT strategies that involve the real-time use of external data. One of the innovations that is being adopted in real-time to enable better informed decision-making is external Big and Open Linked Data (BOLD). Combining internal company data silos with external BOLD in real-time helps in the creation of these real-time insights, such as new relationships, patterns, or more context to existing data that was not yet useful. These new insights can be used for better decision-making on a variety of problems and opportunities, such as strengthening customer relationship, better pricing, building a better product market fit, expanding products and services, and managing risk. However, the adoption of external BOLD addresses several adoption barriers that hinder the real-time integration of external BOLD with internal company data. The presence of adoption barriers show that there is a lack of alignment across the different levels of an organization and between the organizations concerned with the data integration. A common practice to align a new strategy and its implementation across the organization is Enterprise Architecture (EA). Countless Enterprise Architecture Frameworks (EAFs) are in existence, but none of them seems to focus on aligning an organization with its business ecosystem. This study shows that the foundation of EA is not capable of satisfying the external mindset of organizations and that an extended approach is required to align a new strategy between organizations. Therefore, this thesis answered the following main research question: How can organizations enable the real-time integration of external Big and Open Linked Data with internal company data for decision-making? This thesis used a Design Science Approach to develop an extended EAF that enables the real-time integration of BOLD for decision-making. Throughout this thesis five sub-research questions are answered to derive to the answer of the main research question. First, two systematic literature reviews are conducted to explicate the research problem by identifying the adoption barriers of BOLD and the limitations of the foundation of EA. Secondly, explorative expert interviews and qualitative data analysis are conducted to define the requirements for an extended EAF that deals with the adoption barriers and enables the real-time integration of external BOLD with internal company data. Thirdly, several systems engineering techniques (Morphological chart, Best-of-class chart, and brainstorm sessions with creative methods) are used to transform the requirements into an extended EAF. Lastly, the extended EAF is evaluated on quality and suitability through a ‘Plan Evaluation’, which resulted in potential improvements of the design. The findings are synthesized for answering the main research question. To explicate the misalignment across organizations and between organizations, the different barriers that hinder the real-time adoption of BOLD are identified. This resulted in a conceptual model of adoption barriers of BOLD related to information quality (data absence, data quality, a lack of meta-data), task complexity (task handling issues, lack of standards and different sources), technology (Lack of supporting infrastructure, legacy systems, data fragmentation), use & participation (Lack of knowledge, implementation issues, constraints, lack of acceptance), legislations (privacy, security issues, and permits and license issues) and governance (Policy issues, Scalability Issues and a Lack of Data Governance). If organizations want to use external BOLD for decision-making in real-time, no adoption barriers can be present. This study shows that the foundation of EA can align a new IT strategy and its implementation across the organization, but not of aligning a new strategy between organizations and its ecosystem. This means the practice can mitigate the adoption barriers that arise across an organization can be overcome, but not the adoption barriers that arise between organizations. This thesis shows that a general transformation from a system of record to a system of engagement is required to adapt to this external mindset, which is key part of the paradigm shift that comes with an organization’s digital transformation. Modern organizations should embrace the system of engagement, including the company’s ecosystem as part of their Enterprise Architecture Framework. Hence, this thesis presents the ‘Ecosystem Architecture Framework’ that facilitates this transformation and has incorporated the required capabilities to mitigate the adoption barriers that arise between an organization and its ecosystem. The Ecosystem Architecture Framework provides guidance for organizations to implement an IT strategy that involves the real-time integration of external BOLD on an institutional, technological and transactional level. First, the framework provides a proactive approach that initially deals with the potential adoption barriers. Secondly, the framework enables collaboration between the data users and BOLD providers by establishing strategic alliances with mutual incentives to mitigate the adoption barriers. Thirdly, the framework allows organizations to involve all stakeholders concerned with the BOLD integration in the design of the system. By developing a shared architecture vision and architectural requirements alignment between the organization and ecosystem is created. Fourthly, the framework enables organizations to initially link their architectures through a direct real-time connection. This study demonstrates that organizations need to invest in a hybrid integration platform (e.g. an API Management Platform) that facilitates that organizations can easily integrate and share integration services (e.g. APIs), different applications can be linked together, collaboration between applications is possible, and orchestration of the applications by a single interface. Fifthly, the framework looks beyond the technical implementation and ensures that an inter-organizational model developed to make the architecture working. The inter-organizational model consists of shared artifacts that make sure the same way of working is implemented within the business ecosystem. This can be achieved by developing uniform standards for data, meta-data, technical information about integration services; A common data model that ensures one data model, unified schema and semantics are used within the business ecosystem; An independent API policy that ensures that each external data provider can be internally linked to the architecture by conforming to this policy; and institutions between the organizations that enforce the same way of working to enable sustainability of the data. Lastly, the framework ensures that the architecture keeps running by adapting to changes of the environment. Therefore, it is important that organizations develop a governance mechanism that ensures the system is scalable, maintainable and sustainable. It is important that the inter-organizational model and shared artifacts of the ecosystem are managed and adapt to changes of the environment to keep the architecture running. The outcomes of this research have both scientific and societal relevance. The former is achieved by adding the following contributions to science: new adoption barriers of BOLD; a critical assessment of the foundation of EA and EAFs; the required capabilities to mitigate the adoption barriers; and an approach that can be used to enable the real-time integration of BOLD with internal company data. The latter is achieved by providing a validated approach that can help to increase the success rate of data-driven strategies, which is relevant for national governments and organizations that want the data-driven strategies to succeed. The thesis also has some limitations. Firstly, the Ecosystem Architecture Framework is only validated trough a plan evaluation, which is a ‘design on paper’. Secondly, the framework is dependent on the TOGAF-ADM and can only be used as design principles without TOGAF-ADM. Also, the report has become very lengthy, as the research covers many different research methods. For future research, it is recommended to also validate the design through a ‘product- and process evaluation’ that investigate the implementation issues and effects in a real-world context. Secondly, it is recommended to do future research on additional capabilities to create an EAF that can be used independently. Thirdly, an in-depth study on the specific capabilities is recommended to investigate the different design patterns for incorporating the capabilities. Fourthly, it would be interesting to do research on engaging the Ecosystem Architecture Framework in different industries with different organizations part of different ecosystems and evaluate the differences.

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.

The national government of the Netherlands has mandated heat transition to the municipality as part of the global execution of climate agreement. However, despite many guides has been offered, municipal heat-transition policy is a tricky matter that the municipal policy-makers struggle to grasp. To support the systematic municipal heat transition policy-making process, we propose the usage of a Decision Support System (DSS) that serves the whole cycle of policy-making. However, there is a knowledge gap of an integrated DSS framework with both policy target profiling and policy system (policy cycle) that is a context-specific for the municipal heat transition policy-making in the Netherlands. Therefore, this thesis study was conducted to answer the research question: "what decision support system framework can systematically assist municipalities in the heat transition policy-making process?" To answer this question, a refined Heat Transition Policy Making (HeTPoM) DSS framework is made based on a functional visual design method to cater to the needs of DSS creation in the context of municipal heat transition policy-making in the Netherlands. The refined HeTPoM DSS framework is designed to support policy-makers to create a systematic municipal heat transition policy by supporting the process of policy design, assessment, and evaluation. Furthermore, the refined HeTPoM DSS framework can potentially be used as a base to create a computerised municipal heat transition policy-making DSS. This then leads into two types of future research recommendations that need to be done in series. First is the HeTPoM DSS framework components mechanism study (i.e. the interaction between municipal heat transition influencing factors and the policy-making process). Which then can be followed by digital architecture of the DSS system to support the development of municipal heat transition DSS.

The “Wet open overheid” or Woo is a law that facilitates access to government information for Dutch citizens and states that “everyone has the right to access government information without having to show an interest in it, subject to the limitations provided for by this law.” This law is the Dutch embodiment of a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Facilitating citizens with access to government information is an essential promotor of an open and democratic society. Furthermore, it allows citizens to hold their governments accountable for their actions and make informed political decisions. The proper execution of this right to government information is essential, however, it was found that processing the information requests directed to Ministries of the Dutch Government takes an average of 161 days, where the law states a maximum handling term of 42 days. This delay impedes the citizens’ access to government information and should be addressed. While previous research has been performed towards improving “Woo-request processing,” there is little known about the process itself, nor what the direct causes of delay are. Information management is suggested as a possible culprit. Yet, there is little known about its effects, which are likely to be noticeable in the information search process (ISP) that is part of Woo-request processing. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify how the existing Woo-request ISP is executed at Ministries of the Dutch National Government and what influences it in order to define improvements for said process in relation to its facilitation of an open and transparent government. This research concludes that the Woo-request ISP is a complex process that is influenced by many factors. Whereas the ISP described by academic literature portrays multiple iterative steps, the Woo-request ISP hardly portrays any iterative steps in relation to an improved definition and understanding of the information problem. As a result, the requestor cannot learn from the search itself and the information found throughout it. Combined with a possible lack of prerequisite knowledge of the requestor, this means that requests are likely to remain broadly defined and vague due to a fear of missing out on information caused by the requestor’s distrust. Therefore, this research suggests that through increased informative interaction between the requestor and the handler, supported by search and content experts, specification of the requests should be facilitated, which is expected to improve the search process. This also builds a relationship of trust between the parties involved, which is expected to increase the chance of a requestor’s cooperation. Furthermore, the Woo-request ISP as it is does not guarantee completeness nor traceability of the search performed. Therefore it is suggested that the information locating phase makes use of a metadata-based centralized search tool that is operated by experienced and trained personnel who are able to access all information applicable to the Woo. Whilst the suggested improvements are likely to have a positive influence on the existing process; there are large hurdles to be overcome. It must be noted that some problems or dependencies might in fact never be overcome. For example, the realization of a centrally accessible archive might never see the day of light, as it conflicts with government tasks and values other than openness and transparency. Additionally, it must be noted that the existing “document definition” used by the Dutch government is incredibly broad. This broad definition encases that if the government is to adhere to its laws, almost all currently produced information must be searchable by Woo-request handlers. Especially in a government where a policy rarely stands on its own, it can be challenging to define the end of relevance to a request. Lastly, it must be noted that some requestors might never be pleased with the outcomes of their Woo-request.

Research context Open government data (OGD) publication and use is an important feature of an open government. However, In Dutch municipalities, the presumed created value from municipal OGD fails to live up to its potential, despite various OGD initiatives. Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge about how value creating mechanisms work and how they can be stimulated in municipal contexts. The objective of this study is therefore to identify value drivers and inhibitors in municipal open government data ecosystems. In order to do so, an in-depth analysis is conducted into the stakeholder perceptions regarding values, barriers and success factors related to these systems. Research approach In order to find an answer to the central research question how can the creation of value in municipal open government data ecosystems be facilitated? the ecosystem is approached using actor and strategy models (ASM). This methodology allows in-depth analyses of the stakeholder perceptions throughout the entire ecosystem, and in doing so opens up what is known in ASM as ”the actor dimension” in policy making. By applying the ASM method to open government data ecosystems, this thesis argues for a re-evaluation of the actor dimension in policy making decisions. Furthermore, this thesis seeks to contribute to current OGD theorizations by showing how an in-depth analysis of stakeholder perceptions throughout open data ecosystems not only strengthens policy making decisions down the line, but also expands various forms of value creation through OGD publication and usage. Findings The research question is divided into four sub-questions. The first question is: what does the municipal OGD ecosystem look like? Using a systematic literature review a conceptual model is developed of a municipal open government data ecosystem, portrayed as an actor arena, which is central in an ASM-approach. The ASM- approach allows an assessment of social/political, operational/tactical, and economic value creation. The actors in this model are municipalities, infomediaries, and citizens, who interact by performing tasks, which leads to value creation. Value creation is thus not inherent in specific groups of actors, but created in interactions and dispersed outside the OGD ecosystem itself throughout society. Furthermore, a distinction is made between active and passive interaction executed by citizens. This allows identification of four ecosystem categories: in the administrative domain (1) citizen informing and (2) citizen sourcing; and in the political domain (3) transparency/accountability and (4) collaborative democracy. Lastly, an overview of seven categories of barriers and success factors is presented. This conceptual model was evaluated in an expert review, which led to the second sub-question: to what extent is the conceptual model of the municipal OGD ecosystem accurate, insightful and useful?. The conceptual model was perceived as too data-central, which led to the addition of a societal incentive in the ecosystem as a starting point. Secondly, the distinction between active and passive citizens tasks was perceived as novel insight, which underscored the importance of this viewpoint. Thirdly, the policy context was lacking in the experts’ view, hence it was taken into account by the identified success factors, which included policies. Subsequently, the conceptual model was examined empirically in two case studies concerning a citizen inform- ing OGD initiative and a citizen sourcing OGD initiative. Stakeholder perceptions of infomediaries, municipalities and citizens were measured in order to answer the third sub-question: what are stakeholder perceptions on values, barriers and success factors of data initiatives in municipal OGD ecosystems? This led to several insights. 1.Stakeholders tend to perceive social/political and operational/tactical value of municipalities partaking in OGD initiatives more than economic value. In open government data initiatives for administrative purposes that consist of active citizen interaction mechanisms, additional value is created. This is the case because this research has shown that in such initiatives citizen sourcing benefits account for additional operational/tactical value and responsive governance benefits account for additional social/political value. 2. Infomediaries that were categorized as typical technical initiators of OGD initiatives tend to seek institu- tional support from municipalities or supra-municipal governmental organizations to implement OGD initiatives. Infomediary initiation is effective to ensure a societal incentive for these initiatives. 3. Municipal motives for participating in initiatives were assessed. Whereas some municipalities enthusias- tically participate, others are less willing to do so when OGD initiatives do not fit their perceived institutional contexts. This is especially the case if cross-municipal data-standards are embedded in municipal procedures that do not add value for that municipality. Sometimes municipalities expect infomediaries to generate data technically and are therefore, sometimes municipalities are less dedicated to perform their ecosystem tasks. 4. This research has shown that citizens need to be made aware of their interests in open government data initiatives, and actively encouraged in order for value to be created. The results of the three analyses (literature, expert review, and case studies) insist on a revision of the conceptual model of the municipal ecosystem and generate answers to a fourth sub-question: what factors need to be incorporated in the model in order to increase the creation of value? Four value drivers have therefore been added: (1) institutional support for infomediary initiation, (2) technical support for implementation, (3) reaching out to citizens by engaging re-use platforms, and (4) mobilization of citizens by user-friendliness in OGD applications. Policy recommendations have been formulated to infomediaries, municipalities, and supra-municipal governmental organizations related to coordination and encouragement of value creation in OGD initiatives. Scientific contributions This study contributes to the open government data literature by identifying factors that stimulate value creation in the municipal OGD ecosystem (value drivers) and factors that reduce value generation in this ecosystem (value inhibitors). In contrast to many studies throughout open data literature, this study obtained in-depth insight into the actor dimension underlying municipal OGD ecosystem interactions and revealed some of the structuring mechanisms that influence OGD value creation. Moreover, tasks related to value creation in citizen centered open government data initiatives have not only been made explicit but are specifically attributed to various stakeholders. This study is among the first to apply an ASM approach to open data research, and its findings suggest ASM can be a fruitful method for analyzing open data ecosystems. Societal contributions Value creation in municipal OGD ecosystems should be encouraged by considering the suggested policy recom- mendations for infomediaries, municipalities and supra-municipal governmental organizations. Additionally, the conceptual model of municipal OGD ecosystems developed in this thesis can potentially be used in order to design more valuable OGD initiatives. Future research In future research, additional case studies of OGD initiatives are advised to use an ASM-approach in order to better take stakeholder perceptions into account. Future research should also consider examining OGD initiatives with a more economic focus, as well as those initiated by other categories of infomediaries such as media organizations or academic institutions. Lastly, citizen perspectives could be further evaluated using surveys and this aggregated citizen perspective could then be integrated into the ASM-model.

As digitization moves on, more data is produced and the value of this data increases. However, data is still transferred manually between different digital systems. Reason to manually transfer information is lacking interoperability between these systems. Huge costs are related to this lacking interoperability as they cause high data losses. Issues with interoperability and information losses are present as well in the field of asset lifecycle information management. Especially in the transition of project delivery to asset management. This research investigated the stated problem within the Engineering office of the municipality of Rotterdam. The research followed a design science research approach consisting of five steps. First the scientific knowledge base was defined, second the local practice is researched. Third design requirements were listed based on the pre-taken steps. Fourth an ontology was designed based on these requirements. Fifth, based on the investigated scientific literature into the topic the following objective was constructed: “Design an ontology linking assets and their related information to BIM data-schemes and domain ontologies in a general way.” Based on the analyses of the scientific knowledge base and the in-depth research cases a list of design requirements was established. To optimize the value of the ontology additional requirements from the FAIR principles were derived. Based on the derived requirements an ontology was designed with the main features as showed below. A main limitation of the research is that the design is not tested or evaluated extensively. • Objects are central in the design, meaning, all information should be linked, eventually indirectly, to an object. • Information type is included as a specific entity to provide structure in the information. • Information related to an information type can be expressed in attributes, documents, and activities. • The information inside a document can be made explicit in attributes and activities. • The modelling references can refer to a specific object in a specific BIM-model or to meta-object of a specific BIM data-scheme. • The domain ontologies refer always to a specific instance within such an ontology. • Findability and accessibility are incorporated by the means of a separate regulation entity to provide flexibility on the abstraction level of regulation. The research has some clear contribution to as well the scientific knowledge base as the local practice. Scientific contributions of this research are the designed ontology and the analysing made of the FAIR principles in relation to their application on an ontology for governmental data instead of scientific data. It should be mentioned that no extensive literature research is performed into an earlier application of this kind. Regarding the local practice, the main recommendation, next to the designed ontology, is to state explicit what information is in what documentation. This makes it easier to align the information available and needed and thereby enhances an early consideration on the information transfer process. To conclude some recommendations for future research are presented. Future research could validate the findings of this research by investigating the information transfer withing the engineering of Rotterdam or strengthen the generalizability by doing the investigation within other major Dutch municipalities or other organizations dealing with the same problem. In addition, the ontology design could be tested and validated. Finally, it is recommended to do research in the application of software analysing documentation and able to extract explicit attributes and activities within these documents. The current developments regarding artificial intelligence and language models may offer opportunities to derive explicit knowledge from documents and transfer it in an explicit way solving a part of the problem at hand.