Karolina Dvorakova,
Jeffrey Ros,
Robert Akerboom
Now that we’ve discussed global trends and initiatives, it’s time to shift our focus towards Texel and to find out what potential there is for implementation on the island. Which of these ideas can we describe as plausible for integration on Texel or might already be happening as we speak. And which proposals are unsuitable for Texel and most importantly, why?
In the case of green banking, we see great potential for Texel since the island can be considered a separate province with local policies, proud local stakeholders and entrepreneurs, an existing vision on being self-sustainable and of course clear borders which keeps initiatives manageable. There are already several sustainable initiatives on the island which are funded and guided by the ASN bank, which has a motto that says: “for tomorrow’s world”. For example, TexelEnergy started a daughter company called Tezon B.V.. In 2011, ASN Bank funded Tezon with a loan of 400.000 euro to finance four solar energy fields. This can provide the yearly necessary energy demand for 45 families on Texel and is a vital part of a energy self-sufficient island (ASN Bank, 2015). Another example is ASN Bank being partners with Urgenda, which is an organisation that thrives sustainable innovation in the Netherlands. They started a partnership in 2012 by financing the Waddenproject, initiated by Urgenda, which focuses on sustainable projects at the Waddeneilanden, of which Texel is one (ASN Bank, 2015).
With the local people of Texel being very proud of and involved in “their” island, we believe that crowdfunding or kickstarting projects can become a big “thing” on the island in the near future, however as stated above, such way of financing can go even beyond Texel's border. Texel is already on route to become fully energy self sufficient in 2020 (Texel Energie, 2015) and on that route, already several crowdfunding projects have added their value. Maybe the most interesting example is the ferry which sails between the island and the mainland. Since 1907, this ferry company (TESO) has been maintaining this form of transport and has a total of 3000 stakeholders involved. From these 3000 stakeholders, the biggest amount of people is from the island itself and is therefore a great example of crowdfunding before it was even a trending topic (Rifkin, 2015). Crowdfunding seems rooted in Texel and its inhabitants.
Difficult about the patent discussion of course, is the disagreement between different parties about whether they should be open or closed. There hasn't been established a unanimous theory which could really trigger this trend in open patents. Therefore, we don’t think that this trend could directly be of any help in creating a self sustainable Texel as it goes far beyond Texel. If used on Texel scale however, we can imagine that certain new developments could be patented, but remained accessible for entrepreneurs with sustainable visions on Texel. Therefore, the patents would more or less lay in the hands of the island itself and could trigger sustainable pilot projects on or around Texel. However, in a sustainable Texel, we believe that the aim should be the open-patent policy of the businesses and the knowledge sharing in between various entrepreneurs to speed up the innovation.
Regarding the creation of platforms or displays for exchanging knowledge and sharing innovative sustainable ideas, we think that Texel holds great potential. Some platforms of knowledge exchange are already being created, however these are mostly among Texelaars themselves; another step further could be achieved by communicating to the mainland. Especially because of the enormous amount of tourists visiting the island every year, causing the amount of inhabitants to double temporarily. It’s an existing source of public which can be addressed year after year. If implemented in the right way, Texel can evolve from being famous for it’s nature and relaxing environment towards a showcase of sustainability; for such a campaign addressed to Texel tourists initiated by the municipality of Texel would be suitable. Focussed on the level of private homes or communities, TexelEnergy initiated a game in which teams from different villages were competing for the lowest energy usage (ASN Bank, 2015).
The importance of ICT for the creation of platforms or displays cannot be overlooked. With the ever evolving ways of online presence and the envisioned integration of online technology in the physical world (augmented reality) a lot of opportunities will likely emerge to improve knowledge exchange. Young entrepreneurs will likely be able to extract more benefits from these innovations than existing businesses, since they have more experience with ICT (being a younger generation) plus because the startup phase of a company is generally more flexible than a well-established business.
The lean startup methodology would be a very good way of fostering innovative new solutions and startups on the island. However in order to do so, the methodology must be communicated towards the (potential) entrepreneurs, which could be done through various seminars, master classes or workshops, organized by the entrepreneurial initiatives (TexLabs, JONT, TOP Texel, Stichting Duurzaam Texel) or the Texel municipality.
The young people, capable to work with technology with more ease since they have grown up with it, should be tempted to stay living on the island. For such more educational activities, teaching about wider range of subjects is needed. Such is already done for example in Kennis & Kunde TX, however more of similar initiatives must be organised.
As a final point, we’d like to discuss whether decentralization of services and the shift of power that goes with it could be of any interest for Texel. Obviously, the geographical properties of an island provide certain potentials for this, since a physical barrier automatically leads to a form of independency and therefore decentralization. On top of that, we think that the local people of Texel are already relatively good in nursing their own needs and might therefore be more interested in further proposals regarding decentralization on certain levels. Also to make Texel more resilient to anything that happens across the water which might negatively influence them. For a 100% self sufficient Texel, we believe that the only import taking place in the future should be that of luxury goods. The decentralization of services could definitely aid in reaching this goal.