Flemish Transition NetworkSustainable Materials Management

C2CNetwork Transfer Workshop GovernanceMaastricht (NL), July 12th 2011

Plan C mission

“Plan C createsreal breakthroughs towards asustainable materials economyand society in Flandersand takes an exemplary rolein Europe.”

Transition(s) in waste management

The waste management system, such as developed duri ng80s-90s, is under pressure.

Plan C, as a policy process, was introduced in 2006 byOVAM with the goal of reorienting its waste policy towardssustainable materials management.

The approach that is followed to innovate waste pol icywas inspired by “transition management” (introduced inthe NL since 2011).

All activities for facilitating the process, commun ication,expertise, studies, etc. were supported by OVAM.

Inspired by transition management 1.0

Source: Saartje Sondeijker, 2009.

TM 1.0 or DRIFT approach is one of all efforts to influencesocio-technical systems (transition governance)

“Vision” is best thoughtof as "future orientation"or Leitbild. It shows theimportance of a guidingvision and leadership in aprocess. Visions arecapable (...) to provide adegree of “congruence”in the actions of variousindividuals andorganisations.

Adaptive systems arecomplex in that they aredynamic networks ofinteractions andrelationships notaggregations of staticentities. They areadaptive in that theirindividual and collectivebehaviour changes as aresult of experience andlearning.

Society is challenged bythe question how to tofulfill societal needs in amore sustainable way andovercome persistentproblems (…). Becausethere’s much uncertaintyabout both problems andsolutions, it requiresexperimentation on asmall scale. Small-scaleexperiments are a keyinstrument in stimulatingsustainable transitions.

Plan C building blocks

Envisioning Adaptive network Experimenting

Building a Transition ArenaProblem/system structuring and moving to a transition agenda:

envisioning the future and pathways to get there

Transition Arena

Expanding the network

Transition Arena

Transition Team(s)

Envisioning

With the start of Plan C 5 years ago, OVAM showed its earlyawareness of these new upcoming developments. The transitionmanagement approach that was used to initiate Plan C wassuccessful in creating a “policy niche” with some distinctivecharacteristics:

• a new discourse for Flanders about sustainable materials management,based on the contributions of frontrunners working under new interactionrules between government and societal actors,• starting a (learning) network that, certainly until 2008, was the main voice inFlanders on sustainable materials management.

The financial means came from traditional governmental fundingsources.

Lessons learned

Transition management as a form of policyinnovation. A case study of Plan C, a process insustainable materials management in Flanders.

Society is challenged by thequestion how to to fulfill societalneeds in a more sustainable wayand overcome persistent problems(…).

Because there’s much uncertaintyabout both problems and solutions,it requires experimentation on asmall scale. Small-scaleexperiments are a key instrument instimulating sustainable transitions.

Experimenting

Why experimenting?No classical innovation projects

A transition experiment is aninnovation project with a societalchallenge as a starting point forlearning aimed a contributing to atransition.Type of steering requires more thanmanaging internal aspects ofinnovation projects, it is also aboutmanaging interactions betweenprojects, managing interactionsbetween experiment and niche orbroader societal context and((inter)national developments.

Shake up the idea box! (and see what comes out)

Urgent need for tailor-made tools/process

Urgent need for tailor-made tools/process

Idea management, risk and IP management

Central mechanisms to which experimentscontribute to sustainable transitions

1 Deepening [learning as much as possible in a specific context]

2 Broadening [linking and repeating in different contexts]3 Scaling up [embedding the experiment in (new) dominant

ways of thinking (culture), doing (practices) andorganizing (structure)]

Adaptive network

Plan C Virtual Office

Interconnection virtual office and website

Plan C Website

Smart use of social media

Plan C on LinkedIn Plan C on Twitter

FISCH

Some spearheads

Enhanced

Landfill Mining

INNOMATIK Eco Clusters

Huge challenge to keep the position of the first 2 years.

Partly explained by problems in the internal functi oning of the network:• the trial-and-error process of organisation and content development hasbeen hindered by a lack of funding to support the process and thedevelopment of experiments,• a search by involved actors (government, industry, knowledge sector, ngo’s)to define their role and position vis-a-vis each other,• the difficult translation of the discourse into action,

• uncertainty about the future status of the network.

At least equally important for explaining the curre nt position of Plan Care developments in the context: pressures at landscape, regime andniche level lead to a situation where different kind of actors in different policydomains (waste/materials, socio-economic innovation) are catching up withPlan C and threatening to overrun it.

Lessons learned

Transition management as a form of policyinnovation. A case study of Plan C, a process insustainable materials management in Flanders.

Lessons learned

Transition management as a form of policyinnovation. A case study of Plan C, a process insustainable materials management in Flanders.

(Re) involve business (sector) andother societal entrepreneurs

Towards Plan C 2.0

Current challenges

Embedding in political context

Adaptive financing mechanismsfor experiments and projects

Current challenges

Improving the building blocks and toolbox

Current challenges

Partnering with regional and internationalinnovation and research networks

Can we learn from each other?

Creating transnational (interregional) networks

What about transferability?

“Transfer” as reproducing practices in anew context. It is clear that characteristicsof the transfer and/or local re-development process affect resultsconsiderably. What is the intendeddegree of transfer?[Perspective Study Governance and C2C]

“One of the lessons of policy analysis research is that the context inwhich new policy processes like Plan C has to perform is ofimmense importance for explaining success and failure”

We are very much interested to learn from ...

Thank You !Questions? Need more Information?Feel free to contact us.

Presentation by

Walter Tempst (OVAM)Karel Van Acker (KUL)

Contact

info@plan-c.euwww.plan-c.eu

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Challenge for the network to survive