Marcel van Marrewijk's Blog, page 140

Vuur van Herinnering

Op 11 december herdenken we overleden kinderen.

Bij S2M-Strijp S in Eindhoven verwachten we zo’n 100 gasten die namen noemen en kaarsen branden. Liesbeth Kluppel is een van de mensen die dit moment vorm geeft. Zij schreef bovenstaande tekst.

Zondag 11 december

18:00

S2M Strijp S

Gratis toegang

info@madeliefjes.com

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CWE16 – Why connecting coworking spaces locally

Yesterday was the first day of the coworking europe conference and we have a lot to share! One of the sessions was what are the advantages of collaborating locally with other coworking spaces. While most compete one guy, Nacho Rodriguez, thought about collaborating and according to him, that’s why his coworking space survived.

2 years ago Nacho opened his coworking space in the Canary Islands, Spain. As he said in the his talk he didn’t know much about coworking so had some unorthodox methods on how to start. That didn’t really work. It started working when he connected to other coworking spaces around him and together figured out what could work for their market.

Once they realised that together they were stronger, they started the ACEO – Canary Association for Collaborative Espaces. Together they are making the Canary Islands the place to be for digital nomads. Being in a place that is not in the map for workers is becoming and advantage now. Until a while ago only countries as Thailand were taking advantage of that, but now there are spaces in Europe as well.

What digital nomads are usually looking for is a good connection, cheap living costs and an inspiring place to be. Could be the beach, mountains or an historical city. The ACEO is nailing it by marketing the canary island with all those atributes in Europe. Other spaces are doing the same as the balkans, and it could be used as an advantage for rural spaces in other countries as well, as the seats4silence in the Netherlands.

In big cities connecting coworking spaces has been showing results as well. Taylor Tran from innovation Melbourne, in Australia, also got the coworking spaces in Melbourne to get together and collaborate. He already put communities behind him and is talking ecosystem. What he created with the spaces locally was a guide with tips for coworking spaces and they exchange knowledge to empower each other and make the whole coworking market grow locally. In that way, if the market grows, all the coworking places grow with it.

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The coworking survey 2016 is out and about!

We are at the coworking europe conference in Brussels and just now deskmag released the results of the global coworking survey from 2016 and the forecasts for 2017. Curious? Well, stay with us!

First of all the number of coworking spaces is still growing, now we are 11.300 spaces worldwide, that represents a 30% growth comparing to 2015. The growth is slowing down a bit and the forecast for 2017 is 22%. Let’s go to members now, in 2016 the amount of users of coworking spaces got to 835.000 worldwide, representing a 64% growth. The forecast for 2017 is 1.180.000 members with a rumble growth of 41%.

Now to a new part of the survey. Not surprisingly 79% of coworking spaces consider themselves as more than a coworking space. They can also be community space, mixed space, shared office, business center, incubator or accelerator, artist space or other, mainly being event space. When asked if they were profitable, 41% of the spaces are, while other 23% not. An interesting insight is that 29% replied that the coworking space doesn’t really need to be profitable for the place itself to continue, as they usually have others sources of money as coffee, meeting spaces, event spaces, etc.

What did the members had to say about their coworking spaces? 60% called it casual, showing that coworking is coming to the mainstream now, although 24% still describe it as hip & trendy. 71% of member collaborated with at least one other coworker, 29% never ever did. The average number of collaboration per member is 4 and most of them (76%) were involved in small tasks, 42% partnered up for a project without contract, 27% did a contract and most astoundingly 11% formed a new company together.

This is only a small piece of the whole survey. The final results will be published at deskmag.com – be sure to check all the details there.

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Makro | From wholesaler to marketplace, part I

About 6 months ago, I shared with you that wholesaler Makro Nederland got on board of the S2M Ecosystem. A pretty fascinating and daring choice for quite a traditional wholesaler and of course part of a much larger innovative transition the company is going through. So where are things now? Being part of the change team within Makro since a few months (note: an assignment that came out of me being active within the S2M Ecosystem), I am happy to share the story of Makro with you step-by-step. Today’s part will give you some context on the challenge Makro is facing.

THE CHALLENGE

Founded late 60’s of the last century, Makro was a real household name for decades within The Netherlands. The Makro Card, giving an entrepreneur access to shop at Makro, was a most wanted item. Customers were lined up, parking lots were filled up to the last space. The 17 big blue ‘boxes’ situated along the Dutch highways offered all you needed, both food and non food. Through the years though, the world changed, just like the customer. As Makro did not tune in on this well enough, the customer went shopping elsewhere.

THE CHANGE

So what exactly has changed over the years?

Nowadays, people just want the best offer for the best price, no matter where that comes from (online/offline, regular shop/wholesaler).
Access has become more important than possession, meaning that people rather share things, than buying them themselves.
There is no clear difference anymore between work and leisure time. People are able to work anywhere and anytime they want and lots of entrepreneurs do not even have an office anymore. People are more flexible and mobile.
Entrepreneurs do not have the time to figure out everything themselves; they want solutions instead of products.
People will only go out shopping if the experience is fun. At the same time, personal contact stays important to them.

Conclusion: Entrepreneurs want to connect and do business in a smart way. Whenever they want it. In a fun way. And of course for the right price. They want their time spent to be well spent.

THE NEW STRATEGY

Makro realized it had to adapt its business model, and created a new strategy:

To focus again on its original target group: the entrepreneurs running the SME’s
To create a new format to facilitate the new entrepreneur, based on the 3 pillars shopping & purchasing, working & networking and doing business
To become a real market place for entrepreneurs, sharing the space the company has in abundance

Like Rome wasn’t built in one day, you can imagine it takes some time to implement such a new strategy in a big organization like Makro. It namely doesn’t only concern the customer, but all stakeholders, from personnel to suppliers. In the next parts, I will share with you how this new strategy is being implemented and what resources and tools are being used during this process.

Wanna have a peek already what is being organized at Makro? Events are both published at the S2M Event Calendar and www.makro-netwerkplein.nl

 

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Deeleconomie door de ogen van een economiefilosoof

In de (digitale) transitie waar we ons nu in bevinden, is het van belang om verder te kijken dan onze huidige neuzen lang zijn. Hoe kun je dit beter doen dan in gesprek te gaan met een economiefilosoof. Niet van achter een bureau op mijn kantoor, maar al varende op de laatste zomerdag met een Greenjoy ‘deelboot’ door de Utrechtse grachten.

In deze video en podcast (hij duurt een uur) spreek ik met Rogier de Langhe, economiefilosoof aan de Universiteit van Gent. We gaan in gesprek over:

de transitie naar een digitaal tijdperk;
negatieve externaliteiten;
de onderstroom van kleine initiatieven die worden overschaduwd door Uber en Airbnb;
de verschillen tussen België en Nederland’
en meer…

Aanbevolen links:

de blog van Rogier: ‘New Commons’
de Facebookgroep ‘digitale revolutie, peer2peer, collaborative economy’

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Tales of Society 3.0: Episode I, A New School

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away there was a young boy named Joakin Skyrunner. He, as a lot of people, was a bit different. He didn’t like to do as he was told, he liked to ask questions – a whole lot of them! Teachers didn’t really appreciated that, once they didn’t know the answers all of the time. He had a lot of friends though and was the best at building stuff. Once he built his own racing pod by collecting pieces that nobody had a use for. He also created his own protocol droid, a golden humanoid robot called C3PO, who could speak 6 million languages.

One day, in a serendipitous encounter Joakin met Gui-Qon Ginn and San Holo. The 2 jedi masters needed someone who could fix their ship and that’s when their paths crossed. When meeting Joaking they realised that he had special abilities. That the amount of midi-criativion in his blood was kept high even when growing up. That’s when the pair decided to take Joakin to a different kind of school, the Jedi school!

In the Jedi school masters would respect the students as their own. There was no hierarchy, everyone respected each other’s decisions. Everyone had their own role and paths. If there was a question that a teacher didn’t know he was happy to learn something new and to ask the student to go further in the subject. Feelings were respected and personal development was one of the most important subjects. This is how they learned to let the Force flow and to listen to it. To make the right decisions, to stop and reflect.

There, Joakin flourished and created great things. He became a knight a travelled the galaxy on his adventures and meeting people just like him. He is known as the famous inventor of the 5XRM, the fastest popcorn maker of the universe. Still today people going to the movies remember him as a hero.

The school we are talking about is the Jedi Academy. The Jedi Academy was created a long long long time ago in a galaxy very far away. In our galaxy in 2016 we have the happy kids school and Niekee. There super creative kids work on their curiosity and on theirselves by being encouraged to ask questions and discovering the answers to those same questions with the guidance of teachers. Do you know any schools like that? Let us know!

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To share or not to share

 

If you’re anything like me, you think sharing is awesome. And you’re not alone: ShareNL’s research shows 84% of the Dutch people are willing to share.. however, the percentage of people that actually share is tiny. And of those sharers, most only share certain items, f.i. a shared car but not a shared house or power drill.

Last week, I got to share my sharing enthusiasm at the superinspiring TedxAmsterdam event , but here I’d also like to share a different, more personal story: why I share. For me, sharing makes sense because of a very simple reason: sharing makes me happier, and it makes the person using my shared good happier.

Researchers at San Francisco University’s PAmstersychology department already proved it: spending money on experiences makes you happier than spending money on things. Curious to see how that works for you? Then join me on an experiment: close your eyes and play the Youtube-compilation of your life. I’m willing to bet you did not visualize that car you bought, your 55inch flatscreen or that expensive garden set, but probably that awesome vacation, time spent with loved ones, finishing your first marathon or watching your team win the championships.

Granted, the latter category are not free either, you do spend hard cash on those plane tickets, that gourmet dinner or those tickets to the finals. And that is exactly why I love the sharing economy: nothing beats turning things into experiences and saving money in the process so you can afford more experiences.

As a teenager, I traveled solo throughout France, and learned three things: that my sense of direction was not my forté, that an oversized, steel-framed backpack can actually cause your back to bleed and that people are awesome! I’ll never forget that friendly Frenchy who turned his tiny car around to give me a lift in the opposite direction, or that farmer who offered to let me pitch my tent in the meadow where his new-born sheep were frolicking about, after I’d been walking for hours on end without finding a campsite.

As a twenty-something, I Couchsurfed my way through the world, and shared my own couch on many occasions. My driver was never the money it saved, but the experiences it bought me. It taught me that people are the kindest creatures ever.

As a thirty-something, I finally saw an opportunity to ‘be the change’ on more than an individual level. During a short trip to Sardinia, we parked the car at the airport, and it struck me how dreary and cold this transaction was: paying 80 euros to a machine and walking across a vast field of asphalt in the early morning drizzle with all our luggage. Once on Sardinia, we waited in line forever to get a rental car, were helped by the least motivated individual I’d come across in a long time and got a car that met none of our expectations. So I thought to myself: why do we even need these companies, isn’t there a better way to organize this?

Three months later, ParkFlyRent opened its doors. With us, travelers park for free at the airport, and get a private driver dropping them off at the right terminal. During their trip, we rent out their car for them to other travelers. When the owners return, they get their car back clean, and share in the proceeds as well.

The renters in turn get a unique experience, a car with a story, service with a smile and a price tag that leaves room for plenty of extra experiences during their trip. At ParkFlyRent, our team interacts with people from all over the world, and often hear their stories about what they share as well. This way we’re spreading the gospel and hope more and more people will realize the transformative power of sharing!

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See you in Brussels!

Join me in my first time in Brussels since I was 4. Me (Beatriz, nice to meet you) and Lenneke will be there from November 26th to November 30th for the Coworking Europe Conference. For 3 days we will be attending talks from coworking owners and experts from all over the world. Also getting to know different initiatives that comes along with the concept of coworking, like coworkation – coworking + vacation.

During those days we will cover everything that is happening through the S2M twitter, also going live on our facebook page. Follow us there to not a miss a thing. And of course we will post a lot about here, in the S2M magazine! For those who will be there let us know by sending us a e-mail. We would love to meet!

Now, if you see someone eating chocolate, fries and drinking trappist beer all at once. Don’t be scared. It’s my first time in Belgium, so please forgive me. See ya!

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California opens its first University without teachers

42, for the well informed, is the answer for the ultimate question of universe, life and everything else. It is also the name given to a university in France with no teachers. Oh, it is also what you get if you make 6 times 7 – let’s not forget. But I am here to talk about the University, which just got its arm in the silicon valley.

42 for now is only for coders and instead of teachers, it uses its own students to support, discuss and grade each other. There is no tuition and it’s nonprofit. The University started in Paris in 2013 and now it’s spreading its wings to the new continent, and hopefully, will go worldwide soon. And why not go beyond coding?

The trendy university has its registrations open. To apply you have to be from 18 to 30 years old and not necessarily a degree. The training – as they call it – takes between 3 and 5 years. What you learn is in a program that also innovates by not only having topics as computer programming, innovation, entrepreneurship and infrastructure, but also personal development and expression.

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Wereldlichtjesdag bij Seats2Meet-StrijpS

 

Ieder jaar weer zoeken we een plek in de stad voor de 2e zondag in december.

Een plek waar we ouders en andere betrokkenen een warm welkom kunnen heten om hun overleden kind te herdenken.

Sinds 2011 wordt in Eindhoven Wereldlichtjesdag gehouden. Een traditie die in 1997 in Amerika begon.Om 19:00 uur plaatselijke tijd worden er kaarsen aangestoken ter herinnering aan kinderen van alle leeftijden, landen, religies en achtergronden die gemist worden.

Kinderen die het levenslicht niet zagen, kinderen die ziek werden, die een oorlog niet overleefden, die zelf niet meer konden of wilden leven. Kinderen die zelf al weer kinderen hebben gekregen en kinderen die in het verkeer omkwamen.

Met muziek, woorden en kaarsen komen we samen om hun namen te noemen, elkaar te steunen en zeker ook om daarna weer verder te gaan; iets lichter door de verbinding met elkaar. Iris Jansen zingt 3 liedjes die speciaal voor dit moment zijn geschreven.

Dit jaar zijn we welkom bij Seats2Meet- StrijpS. Marcel zei ja op de vraag of hij daarvoor op zondagavond 11 december zijn deuren wilde openen.

Vanaf 18:00 uur ontvangen we de gasten om om 18:45 te beginnen met een liefdevolle herdenking waar ieder jaar weer veel ouders, broers en zussen, grootouders en anderen op af komen.

Voor kaarsen en een drankje wordt gezorgd. Opgeven is fijn; info@madeliefjes.com . De stichting Wereldlichtjesdag040 heet u van harte welkom

https://www.facebook.com/WereldLichtj...

Monica van den Broek  en Josephine de Bont   06-24359078

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