Scaling by Integrating: Towards a Holistic Perspective on Dutch Dike Reinforcement
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2024-11-15
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en
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This thesis examines the scaling of the use of local soil in Dutch dike reinforcement projects
(DRPs). Currently, soil for DRPs often comes from abroad, as this soil meets the strict
requirements for dike soil, whereas local soil often does not. The transport of the soil
generates a lot of emissions, and using soil from abroad is not circular. The use of local soil
can thus contribute to the Dutch goals to be climate neutral and circular in 2050. The research
objective is twofold: 1) understanding the current barriers and drivers and potential drivers of
the scaling of this innovation, using innovation scaling literature; 2) understanding innovation
scaling by applying current knowledge to a new innovation. A framework consisting of ten
different factors was used as a starting point. As the innovation can be considered an ecoinnovation,
the objective is to extend this framework to eco-innovations. The study uses a
mixed methods approach, combining document analysis, surveys and interviews.
The ten factors were very useful to analyze the current barriers and drivers, and the actions
that can be taken in the future to scale the innovation. It was found that there currently are
more barriers than drivers, which explains why the innovation is not yet scaled. The most
important barriers were strict requirements for soil quality and the associated discourse, a
lack of oversight on the soil streams and a lack of integration of DRPs with other spatial
developments. However, there were also some drivers, such as extensive research on how to
use soil that doesn’t meet the requirements, and a growing awareness of sustainability in the
Dutch flood protection program. To scale the use of local soil in the future, regional objectives,
ambitions, funding sources and organizations should be better integrated. In this way, soil
supplying projects (such as nature developments) can be integrated with soil demanding
projects like the DRP.
It was also found that it was not the ten factors on themselves, but rather the interplay
between them that influenced the scaling. By including five additional factors (discourse,
availability of raw materials, objective, integration and flexibility) and by emphasizing the
interplay between the factors, a new conceptual framework was developed. The thesis
concludes by inviting other researchers to test this adjusted conceptual framework on other
eco-innovations.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen