Every year, the world generates 7-10 billion tonnes of waste. Rapid population growth, urbanisation, and increased consumption is projected to increase this number by 70% in 2050. Asia generates the most waste globally and also imports a significant amount of waste from other regions. Waste valorisation transforms waste into higher value products and can be a crucial solution for sustainable waste management in Asia. This research builds on the Technological Innovation System (TIS) Framework and adapts it to the contexts of Asia and the waste valorisation industry with new drivers and barriers. The adapted framework was applied to four case studies of Asian waste- valorising companies: EnviroTech in the Philippines, Ricron Panels in India, Kinava in South Korea, and Less & Co in Singapore. The TIS framework analysis identified barriers that can be grouped into 3 categories: 1) lack of customer demand, 2) incomplete or inefficient operations, and 3) lack of institutional support and resulted in a total of 41 niche strategies that can serve as a resource for companies facing similar barriers. ... Read more

As the aviation industry faces mounting pressure to mitigate its environmental impact and with zero-emissions aircraft still likely years away, it is crucial that airlines find intermediary steps to make progress in the meantime. An opportunity with massive potential is for airlines to leverage IT technologies to reduce their footprint, otherwise known as Greening by IT. Through applications such as better flight planning algorithms which could reduce 0.5-1% of annual emissions or better data oversight to more easily identify polluting elements of the operation, the ways in which Greening by IT can help airlines is numerous. Despite its promise and several demonstrated examples in the industry, airlines still seem to lag in fully implementing Greening by IT solutions and realizing its full potential. A good example of this is within KLM Dutch Royal Airlines, where most efforts to improve sustainability within IT have been put into Green IT, which consists of measures to make IT itself more sustainable. While many of these efforts are admirable, one should question why so much effort is put into reducing IT’s contribution to the total footprint, which makes up less than 1% of total emissions from KLM. When one looks closer, it is easy to see that implementing Greening by IT is more complicated, as coordination with stakeholders outside of IT is needed and the impacts of changes you make are less clear. If navigating tight resource constraints, balancing many other high priority needs, and complying with aviation’s many regulations wasn’t enough, the research on how to best implement Greening by IT is scattered and lacks concrete answers. There is a lack of an understanding in which factors influence implementation the most, which strategies can be used, and a lack of a widely-accepted adoption model which could be used by practitioners and researchers alike. Beyond this, there is a complete absence of prior research on Greening by IT’s application within airlines, nor any unique aspects which must be considered. As a result, the purpose of this study was to explore the key factors impacting Greening by IT implementation, the strategies to guide it, and to integrate these together into a decision support framework. This framework is designed to be used primarily by IT practitioners within airlines to understand the implementation process, select the barriers which impact them the most, and choose strategies which can be used to help overcome them. In order to design a framework that is relevant in practice and to understand the complex phenomena involved with Greening by IT in practice, the study was carried out together with KLM’s CIO Office. Conducting this study with KLM enabled access to important documentation and stakeholders within the company. More specifically, the use-case within KLM Information Services was defined as Data & Technology platform, which combines business and IT elements to provide IT services for several KLM-specific business streams. Three qualitative research methods were used, consisting of a literature study, desk research of KLM documents, and stakeholder interviews. The research process was broken down into five sub-questions which were used to guide the research... ... Read more

The fashion industry's shift to a circular economy (CE) is vital to reducing its environmental impact. Currently responsible for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than aviation and shipping combined, the fashion industry's emissions are projected to rise by 2.7% annually without increased decarbonisation efforts. Circular-born start-ups (CBSs) are crucial in this transition by introducing circular innovations (CIs) that close, slow, or narrow resource loops. However, CBSs face challenges in market entry, and research on this topic is limited.

This study, using a multiple-case study design within the French fashion industry, explores how CBSs introduce their CIs. Data was collected from nine French CBSs through semi-structured interviews and primary sources, complemented by two expert interviews. The study found that CBSs use circular strategies and approaches like recycling and repair to position their CIs, communicating value propositions through tangible and intangible benefits. Collaborations with brands, suppliers, and research centers are essential for market entry, knowledge development, and resource mobilization. CBSs face challenges such as regulatory compliance and market perceptions, which they address through continuous R&D and pilot projects. The study identifies six inducement mechanisms (e.g., regulatory support) and six blocking mechanisms (e.g., data gaps) influencing CI introduction.

The research provides insights into the CE in the fashion industry, contextualizing CIs and offering empirical insights into CBS operations and interactions. It contributes to the Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) literature and has practical implications for enhancing CBS collaborations and supporting innovation in the industry. ... Read more

Industrial biotechnology is labelled by the European Commission as one of the six key enabling technologies to fight climate change. Industrial biotechnology is a sector where biocatalysts (cells or enzymes) are used to convert renewable feedstocks (e.g. sugars) or even waste into valuable compounds such as renewable chemicals or food (ingredients). Unfortunately, the road from invention to commercial production is long in industrial biotechnology, and most biotechnologies that look promising after laboratory development fail to cross the Valley of Death and reach industrial scale. Industrial biotechnology has a long technology development time before being commercialised, is capital intensive, has economies of scale, and usually produces bulk products with low profit margins requiring large industrial-scale production for economic viability. Scale-up support can facilitate scale-up towards industrial scale. Scale-up support was, for example, offered with the Bioprocess Pilot Facility at the Biotech Campus Delft, before its bankruptcy in November 2022. This bankruptcy occurred while being fully booked. This has left the Planet B.io - Biotech Campus Delft scale-up support ecosystem with a lot of potential. In an attempt to scientifically address this scale-up support problem, a knowledge gap was found on the verge of technical scale-up, industrial biotechnology, and scale-up support ecosystems. This led to the main research question: How can a scale-up support ecosystem for industrial biotechnology be best organised and operated?

To answer this, a multiple case study was conducted on the scale-up support ecosystems of Planet B.io - Biotech Campus Delft, Copenhagen, and Brightlands Chemelot. This case study was performed through desk research and semi-structured expert interviews with 3 different types of experts (ecosystem, technical scale-up and start-up expert) per ecosystem, resulting in 9 interviewees. This case study applies the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework to a novel context and integrates it with the four identified scale-up support elements (technical facilities \& services, funding \& business services, network formation \& coordination, and knowledge \& talent) offering a framework to study scale-up support ecosystems. This study identified the scale-up support requirements for industrial biotechnology. These scale-up support requirements are, among others, a flexible and fully-serviced shared piloting facility up until TRL 6 ($\approx$ 2000 L bioreactor), a lab- to pilot- and industrial-scale technical support service, investment planning service and help with raising funding. These should be offered within a scale-up support ecosystem using milestone-based billing as a preferred revenue model, whereas a government voucher system should be set up to pay for the lab- to pilot- and industrial-scale technical support service. Also, the most important stakeholders for a scale-up support ecosystem were identified, including multiple large corporations, government institutions, universities (and other types of education), suppliers, and service providers. Based on the findings, a roadmap for the development of the Planet B.io - Biotech Campus Delft scale-up support ecosystem was proposed, focusing on strengthening the network, knowledge, talent, and funding before offering a piloting facility and business services. This study contributes to the field with a framework to study scale-up support ecosystems as well as with practical recommendations for scale-up support ecosystems in industrial biotechnology and similar industries, identifying the scale-up support requirements, its business models and required stakeholders. ... Read more

The increasing water scarcity and the greater EU costs of horticultural production are pushing Morocco in innovating its food sector by transitioning to a more sustainable horticultural production. Sustainable high-tech greenhouses, in particular, is a promising technology for the generation of greater yield for export and reduction of resource use. Moroccan horticultural leader companies and some universities have already adopted the technology, which is currently diffused on a niche level.
Nevertheless, the ambitious implementation of Sustainable greenhouses does not come without problems in various aspects of construction and adoption. The technology is facing multiple challenges from the high initial investment required to the lack of a water and energy infrastructure capable to sustain its operations. Most local companies and growers are struggling with the adoption of the technology and are suffering the consequences of increasing water prices and taxation. Similarly, the lack of an alignment among the different market players and the lack of a governmental long-term vision is limiting the instance of goal- oriented subsidies. This shows that there are a complex series of factors that might hamper a technology's large-scale diffusion. Consequently, this research aims with the use of the Building Blocks framework by Ortt & Kamp (2022), to explore the barriers to different market applications of Sustainable Greenhouses and formulate niche introduction strategies to overcome the obstacles and reach large-scale diffusion in the Moroccan market. The use of the framework is taken into consideration the socio-technical system from a company perspective. The result of the study is a list of seven building blocks, which must be analysed to develop an ‘ad-hoc’ niche introduction strategy. However, if any of the building blocks are incomplete or incompatible, a barrier to large-scale diffusion is formed, hampering the diffusion of technological innovation. Yet sometimes the state of the barrier does not provide enough pieces of information for the development of a niche strategy. Thus, the investigation of the other seven influencing conditions is required to individuate the cause of the barrier, by providing important information to formulate a specific niche introduction strategy.
Previous research conducted with this study is often solely used to analyse the technological concept without fully considering that the same technologies might encounter different market applications. Nonetheless, when analysing sustainable greenhouse, multiple market applications must be considered. For the specific case of this study, three different market applications of sustainable greenhouses were revealed: sustainable greenhouses for tomato production, sustainable greenhouses for soft-fruits production and sustainable greenhouses for herbs production. Because the differences within internal components and running operations might lead to different obstacles to large-scale diffusion, the analysis requires the adaptation of the framework to develop a singular Building Blocks analysis for each market application.
In addition, this research focuses on examining the process of international technology transfer from the Netherlands to Morocco. The motivation behind this transfer is the increasing impossibility of European countries in growing food during winter due to the war in Ukraine. Previously, profit margins were limited, and now with higher energy prices, they are almost non-existent. Consequently, there is a strong push from the Netherlands to transition local production to Morocco by implementing Sustainable greenhouses. This study employs stakeholder analysis and a two-sided perspective to shed light on the varying opinions of researchers, growers, technology providers, and governmental actors from both countries. What is more, it uses, for the first time, the TIS framework in the case of international technology transfer to assess the barriers and influencing factors affecting the large-scale diffusion of three different types of sustainable greenhouses.
The research continued, with the development of tailored Niche introduction strategies per each market application. These strategies aim to overcome the barriers and prepare sustainable greenhouse companies to diffuse on the Moroccan national level. To illustrate, there have been identified multiple barriers to large-scale diffusion such as the high initial investment costs, the lack of a skilled workforce, the potential customers sceptically and the lack of a final product market. To overcome these obstacles, this study proposed to Moroccan companies some niche introduction strategies. For instance, the development of a network of knowledge share and knowledge development through showing or the establishment of a shared long-term vision from the government.
The paper progresses by reflecting on the analytical capacity of the adapted Building Block framework and gives some suggestions for improvements. It firstly reflects on the use of the adapted framework for the evaluation of the different barriers per market application. Then it discusses the implementation of a yardstick of judgement to develop an objective guideline for the future framework users so that the building block/influencing conditions status evaluation would be more impartial. To conclude it highlights the possibility of another useful adaptation could be the implementation of another building block, specific for sustainability as the lack of it could be an obstacle to diffusion and a key element to be considered toward the ecological transition.
The paper concludes by discussing the findings for each research question, and how the evidence, from the study, shows that there is an international push toward the adoption of more advanced horticultural technologies in Morocco. Similarly, from the gathered data, it is perceived that prevalently foreign countries would be benefiting from Morocco’s technological shift. The technology adoption is facing an increased push after the war in Ukraine and the subsequent shrinkage in the profit margin for local food production. These findings raise the question of whether the introduction of Sustainable greenhouse technology is sustainable as it appears to be or whether this technological implementation might just be another example of green colonialism. Finally, the study addresses its limitations and gives some recommendations for further research. ... Read more

The global emphasis on environmental sustainability has led to the rise of "green finance," a financial paradigm focused on environmentally friendly investments. Central to this paradigm are green bonds, designed to fund climate and environmental projects. Their growth has been significant, but their true impact, especially in the face of concerns like greenwashing, requires critical assessment. Understanding the influence of green bonds on labor markets is crucial, as it provides insights into the broader economic implications of this sustainable financial movement. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as a guiding framework for global sustainability efforts. These goals, ranging from eradicating poverty to ensuring environmental protection, aim for realization by 2030. Green bonds, influenced by these SDGs, address the global sustainable financing gap, estimated between $5 to $7 trillion annually. They resonate with core SDG principles, particularly in areas like economic growth and job creation within green supply chains. The SDGs, therefore, form the backbone of the green bond evolution, with specific alignments like SDG Goal 8, which emphasizes "Decent Work and Economic Growth." However, as the green bond market grows, so do concerns about its authenticity and transparency. One such concern is "greenwashing," where initiatives are misleadingly promoted as environmentally-friendly without substantial backing. For instance, while the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) investments in clean transport projects have positively impacted European economies, some green bonds have been criticized for lacking transparency in their fund deployment.
The primary aim of this study is to delve into the influence of green bond issuance on labor market dynamics, specifically focusing on job creation and destruction. Understanding these parameters is vital as they offer insights into the health and vibrancy of an economy. Acquiring data on green bonds presented challenges. Comprehensive databases, while rich in information, often come with substantial access costs. The primary resource for this research was the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). However, the selective nature of the CBI’s database meant that not all green bonds in the market were accounted for. The data extraction process was manual, resulting in a dataset that covered green bond issuance from 23 OECD countries from 2014 to 2022. In addition to green bond data, this study also considers short-term interest rates and Domestic Credit to Private Sectors by Banks. These variables are crucial as they play significant roles in influencing lending and investment behaviors, and they offer alternative financial channels to green bonds. The research is underpinned by two main hypotheses. The central hypothesis posits that green bonds have a direct impact on labor markets, potentially leading to either job creation or destruction. A secondary hypothesis suggests that the impacts of green bonds vary across industries, meaning that certain sectors may benefit more than others from green bond issuance. This research delves into the nuanced relationship between green bond issuance and employment dynamics within OECD countries. Findings indicate a significant correlation: for every 1% increase in green bond issuance, there’s a corresponding 0.05% rise in employment on average. Considering the green bond market has witnessed a staggering 90% annual growth since 2016, understanding this relationship becomes paramount. While the overarching data suggests a positive correlation between green bond issuance and employment, it’s essential to note that the impact is not uniform across all industries. This observation aligns with the hypothesis that while some sectors may see job growth due to green bond issuance, others might experience job losses.
Different industries exhibit varied reactions to green bond issuance. For example, sectors like Agriculture and Manufacturing tend to show a negative correlation, possibly due to the capital-intensive nature of sustainable projects in these areas. On the other hand, sectors such as Human Health and Social Work Activities demonstrate a positive correlation, likely attributed to the labor-intensive nature of green initiatives in these fields. An intriguing observation is that while green bonds generally bolster employment, they have a minimal effect on reducing job vacancies, as evidenced by a slight negative coefficient of -0.009 between the Job Vacancy Rate (JVR) and green bond issuance. This research, while comprehensive, has certain limitations. Relying on the job vacancy rate and employment as indicators for job creation and destruction might not encapsulate the full dynamics of the labor market. Additionally, the granularity of the data used could be enhanced for a more nuanced analysis. The study’s focus on 23 countries, sourced from the ICMA green bond database, might not reflect the complete global implications of the green bond market on labor dynamics. Green bonds are undeniably pivotal in guiding the global transition towards sustainability. However, their influence on employment is complex and multifaceted. This research emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of the nuanced effects of sustainable finance on the broader economic canvas. As global priorities continue to tilt towards environmental sustainability, the insights from this study can serve as a beacon for policymakers and industry leaders. It’s crucial to harness the potential of green bonds effectively while being aware of their diverse impacts across different sectors.
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In the context of the ongoing transition towards a more sustainable system, grassroots innovations, particularly Circular Initiatives (CIs), are emerging as crucial players, understanding Circular Economy as a promising pathway forward in this sustainability shift. Within this context, the Circular Value Flower (CVF) method was developed by Els Leclercq and Mo Smit during their experiences working with CIs in the Netherlands.

The purpose of this project is to contribute to the development of the CVF by exploring its potential as a design method to support circular initiatives in Argentina while creating positive social impact. Argentina’s relevance in this project is twofold. Firstly, its rich landscape of initiatives and social movements is highly influential, shaping not only the prevailing system within the country but also across the entire Latin America. Secondly, this project seeks to amplify the voices of the Global South within the design discipline and the academic sphere of CE, areas predominantly influenced by voices from the Western Global North.

As the CVF is designed for community engagement, this project centers on working closely with two Argentinean CIs (ReUSAR and Siempre Monte) with a decolonial and participatory approach. Given the complexity of this endeavor and the need to challenge traditional knowledge hierarchies, the overarching mode of thinking leading this project is Sentipensar (feel-think).

In order to cast light, with a sentipensante mindset, on the potential of the CVF to leverage the participating CIs, four phases constitute this project: Reserch for Design, Redesigning the CVF, Action Research and Guideline Design. The first phase aims to define and situate key theoretical concepts, gain a deep understanding of the local context, analyze the current state of the art, and initiate my self-deconstruction as a researcher. The second phase, Redesigning the CVF, focuses on adapting the method and its tools to align with the project’s mindset and the Argentinean context. The design outcomes of this phase are named the Circular Reflection toolkit and Circular Value Map. These tools are designed to facilitate the participatory application of the CVF method during the third phase, which is the Action Research phase involving ReUSAR and Siempre Monte.

After several weeks of active engagement with the CIs and numerous group and individual reflections, the primary insight discussed is the CVF’s potential to support Argentinean CIs by creating a space for pausing, reflecting, and engaging in meaningful conversations. These conversations center on addressing member alignment and both internal and external communication, which are among the primary uncovered issues faced by Argentinean CIs today. Moreover, tackling these challenges aligns with two of the three essential conditions for their success, as identified in the existing literature: shared expectations and networking.

To enhance the accessibility of this research to other practitioners, the primary insights have been translated into a practical guideline referred to as the Tomate Un Mate guideline. This constitutes the fourth and final phase of this graduation project, the Guideline Design phase, with the hope that it will also serve as a starting point for further developments. ... Read more

During the XXth century, technological breakthroughs in genetics, machinery, and improved inputs led to dramatic increases in crop yields (Pingali, 2012). This agricultural revolution was a remarkable success in food production, tripling yields while increasing the area devoted to production by only 30% (Pingali, 2012). This increase in crop yields was necessary to avoid famine, as the world population more than doubled during this period (Pingali, 2012).Unfortunately, this form of industrial agriculture, which relies on crop uniformity, heavy machinery and the intensive use of agrochemicals, leads to the loss of soil fertility, and an acceleration in soil degradation (Gomiero et al., 2011). The current system is reaching its limits, with yields either stagnating or growing much slower than needed to meet the projected demand (Hawkesford et al., 2013). In response to this looming crisis, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture aims to convert the Netherlands to circular agriculture by 2030. This shift requires the need to develop new ways of farming (Ministry of Agriculture & food quality, 2020). Strip cropping is proposed by researchers at Wageningen University and farmers as a potential solution. Strip cropping is a form of agriculture, which is less reliant on agrochemical inputs and promotes biodiversity by planting narrow rows (or strips) of different crops next to each other (Zhang, 2019). Researchers at Wageningen University and farmers in the Noordoostpolder want to investigate the future economic performance of this new type of agriculture compared to traditional intensive farming. This problem is formulated in the following research question: What are the economic opportunities and risks associated to the implementation of strip cropping in the Netherlands? This research is relevant to the MSc Engineering and Policy Analysis as it can guide decisions related to horticulture. Given that agriculture is a complex socio-technical system and food security is a global challenge, this topic is an adequate fit for an EPA master thesis. The EPA master promotes the use of mathematical modeling to gain insight into societal challenges within a context of high uncertainty. The problem at hand is to determine the future economic performance of alternative farming methods, namely strip cropping, through a mathematical model with currently available information. The resulting document should enable farmers and policymakers to make informed economic decisions about the adoption of strip cropping. The detected knowledge gap relates to a lack of understanding of the economics of the strip cropping farming method. Through a study of the literature, the ecological benefits and drawbacks of strip-cropping and monocropping are examined. By gathering information from agricultural specialists, the financial impact of strip cropping is examined. A mathematical model is then used to process and analyze this data. Microsoft Excel is the program of choice because farmers and researchers are familiar with it and it would enable farmers to input their unique parameters and simulate their future financial returns for both monocropping and strip-cropping configurations. Initially, the information provided by the farmers is used to identify the pertinent financial variables. Revenue and Costs are the two groups into which these variables are divided. Yields, price per kilogram, and byproducts are all factors that affect revenue. Seeds, fertilization, crop protection, fuel price, fuel usage, labor cost, labor hours, and miscellaneous costs are variables in the Costs category. More specifically, a Monte Carlo analysis was chosen for the simulation since it has been shown to be effective for assessing the adaptability of various cropping systems to climatic uncertainty (Cary & Frey, 2020). This entails assigning probability distributions to the variables affected by high levels of uncertainty and executing an experiment several times to determine how the investigated farming systems would behave in various scenarios... ... Read more

This project addresses the inequality gap that exists between the city and the countryside in Colombia in terms of education, access to opportunities, and
technology literacy. By using design and entrepreneurship together with the “Más Por TIC” foundation, we developed the program “1,2,3 x TIC”, an entrepreneurship program for rural adolescents for providing them with an entrepreneurial mindset whilst they learn about updated digital tools. Being a program that aims to be the entry point of rural youths to the “Más Por TIC” network, to ensure the sustainability of the NGO, and ensures the possibility of providing its services to the countryside in the future, creating knowledge from the communities for the communities. ... Read more