Kennisland (‘knowledge nation in Dutch) was founded in 1999 and is a pioneer in social innovation. Increasingly it has evolved to being more than a think tank. Its initial goal was to put the Netherlands on the map as a knowledge economy. One issue it focused on early was how to make government more efficient and in 2006 set up the beautiful named Kafka Brigade, which later became independent. It sought out and tackled unnecessary and dysfunctional bureaucracy in government. Now Kennisland tackles complex social problems and we hear about three of their many more recent projects from Nora van der Linden. They are: Rethinking what a school can be or what an elderly care home can become and finally how to increase the willingness to report discrimination among the Muslim community. A challenge for Kennisland having been a pioneer for so long – how can they maintain the momentum.
The Kennisland team will also run an interactive session in the ‘Core Competencies’ track of our Academy: ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling for Creative Solutions’