2.4 Redefining the design gap

The overall aim should be to create an environment where all the actors involved believe in the importance of sustainability and also making sustainability financially feasible and desirable. We believe that entrepreneurs play a key role in that regard, because many new great technologies and ideas will have to be implemented on the way.

Several important concepts of the future subsystem were already presented in chapter 1 of our report. These are:

• sustainability awareness of entrepreneurs and customers
• collaboration and knowledge sharing
• independence

In this section these concepts will be discussed more in detail and applied better to specific conditions of Texel.

sustainability awareness

In our today's western consumer society the market is mainly driven by consumer demand. Customers have a very wide range of choices for products and services and it is up to them what they will choose. Texel is no different in this matter, although the natural water boundaries maybe slightly favor the business on the island to decide about their products. Nevertheless, as was evident from the interview with Ing. Esther Blom from TU Delft, entrepreneurs will not succeed in creating businesses when they provide customers with products that merely have “sustainability” or “green” as its unique selling point. That does not take away the fact that sustainable entrepreneurship is about minimizing environmental impact, next to achieving social value and economic value (The three P’s). We think that knowledge is power, and education is an important factor in this. Not only should customers be aware about how their choices have an effect on their direct surroundings, young (potential) entrepreneurs should be taught on what is necessary to create a sustainable business. Existing entrepreneur platforms can play an important role in this regard, by closer collaboration with educational institutions and other NGO’s such as TexLabs and Stichting Duurzaam Texel.

Next to education, an attempt should be made to respond to how people gain hedonic pleasure by achieving goals. since “acting sustainably” is not an easily attainable and achievable goal, both entrepreneurs as well as their customers should be given tangible, small goals.

collaboration and knowledge sharing

Continuing on the notion that “knowledge is power” we think that better cooperation between established and new entrepreneurs is the key to a more favorable entrepreneur climate. Collaboration is already present in some form, however the current climate is still quite protective about showing their business operations. As such, increased transparency in such business operations and the reporting thereof will create more trust and cooperation between parties.

independence

Independence for Texel has several meanings. Firstly, it is still quite hard for startups to acquire startup capital through conventional means (bank loans, or signing up for subsidies). Easier access to funds will greatly help in that regard. Trends such as crowd funding and increased ease in networking through the internet can help in that regard. Furthermore, a self-sufficient Texel requires some sort of independence from factors outside of the island. Of course, Texel will not be able to produce every single product themselves due to lack of resources, however in some aspects such as food production, mainland influence can be drastically lowered.