BIN@NETHERLANDS 2022: Impact Economy (mid-term event, 28 June)

BIN@NETHERLANDS:
IMPACT ECONOMY

ABOUT THE EVENT
BIN@NETHERLANDS 2022 was an exciting networking opportunity aiming at connecting worldwide representatives of academia, science & technology parks, incubators, tech based firms, investors and many other stakeholders. BIN@NETHERLANDS included keynotes and action tank sessions focusing on IMPACT ECONOMY. The programme was broken down into three global societal challenges: Towards a NetZero Society; Towards an Inclusive Society and Towards a Resilient Society.

This was a collective exercise aligned with SDG 17 – Partnerships for the goals.

See the speakers and panellists here and here.

The event was organised by Porthollandia (the Chamber of Commerce between the Netherlands and Portugal) and by the Humanity of Things agency.

Our continuous gratitude goes also to all partners and sponsors that made this event possible:
The Hague Tech, WOMEN IN TECH – Global Movement, Holland Park Media, Regio TV infothuis, ImpactCity, Gemeente Den Haag.

SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS

The event included several topics that generated vivid discussion and debate. Down below you can find a brief overview of only some of the sessions that were held.

For instance, the Action Tank on Senior Leadership & Active Life arrived at a conclusion that senior leadership also means simulating curiosity. But there were many other inputs coming from the panel members of this session, for example the thought-provoking insights from Linda Pereira (Business Mentor, Speaker and member of G100-Group of 100 Global Women Leaders) reiterated the importance of self-care. According to her, it is a leadership skill, given that nowadays the ROI (Return on Impact) is evermore important, i.e. how can you motivate and inspire those around you? Under the framework of the same workshop, Nico Huizing (Porthollandia) highlighted that younger people must be able to help the older ones when it comes to digital processes, he also underlined that as regards the digital help desks, those are unfortunately unable to assist the people who are in need of digital support (for instance, the elderly) “…We need to develop a helpdesk where someone is personally involved to help people out. 4 million people in the Netherlands do not know how to properly utilize digital services.”

At the same time, the Action Tank on Resilient Cities and Communities delved into the questions like what make communities/society resilient and tried to understand the role of individual in it (personal resilience), as referred to by Alma Pérez Gaxiola (founder of Multidisciplinary Life Studio, Ness Collective). Equally, the importance of entrepreneurs but also creative solutions at the community level (latter stressed by Erwin Meijboom, founder and director of Elias Consulting, expert in urban resilience) were highlighted as well as the need to embrace adaptability.

The panel discussion that focused on Industry Resilience also brought to the fore many interesting ideas and points of view. For instance, Artur Freitas (FEUP, Digital and Intelligent Industry Lab-DIGI2) raised the point that when you talk about industry resilience, you are essentially speaking about predicting problems and solving them before they happen. Artur also raised another important point which is the “know-how” of the workers, i.e. many companies struggle to maintain implemented policies/technology in the long run simply because there’s no one to keep up these policies/technology once they’re effectively operating. Here a bridge was created with the activities of Carolina Torregrosa Gallo (EIT Manufacturing) since her organisation develops educational products for upskilling the manufacturing workforce, enabling employees to best deal with the challenges of the job in an autonomous and innovative way. On her behalf, Cara Antoine (President of the Netherlands Chapter for Global Women in Tech) emphasised how industry resilience is related to sustainability. Enduring industries need to think about the impact they have in the world, and the mark they are leaving to the future. This is not only about the external image of the company, but about integrating industries on the efforts to build a better future.