“Crafting new learning environments: Be an entrepreneur of your own future”

Exchange of opinions and experiences

Key themes to be explored in an innovation experience throughout the conference, starting on the Monday.

• Session A: The transformation of learning spaces
• Session B: Leadership of scalable learning
• Session C: Credentialing and upskilling

Exchange of views and experiences to be facilitated during break-out sessions, workshops and panel discussions. Hospitality to include tea- and coffee breaks, refreshment breaks, closure receptions and a conference dinner.

On Sunday afternoon, 11 June, TA3 members may participate in a cultural programme in the city of Dordrecht, including a welcome reception and a museum visit to Hof van Nederland that was opened by the King and Queen of The Netherlands during their visit to Dordrecht on the King’s birthday. Non-members wishing to participate in the Sunday event should indicate this through the Eventbrite site.

Monday, 12 June Venue: Sustainability Factory, winner of smart industry award, now a field lab for smart industry.

After the opening ceremony and main keynote speaker, participants may opt for one of the three key themes, or a combination thereof. Theme lines consist of a keynote speech, two breakout sessions / workshops, plenary wrap-up and company visits during the industry tour on Tuesday.

Speakers include:

Ruud Veltenaar, Charismatic impact investor, TEDx speaker, trendwatcher and inspirator about cultivating tomorrow's great ideas and transformational leadership.

Ab van der Touw, Captain of industry, CEO Siemens Netherlands, in collaboration with Jeremy Rifkin, one of the initiators of the Roadmap Next Economy

Egbert-Jan Sol, Director of Innovation responsible for the Nanotech, Instrumentation & Materials part of the HTSM innovation area at TNO. TNO is the 4000 people large Dutch contract Research & Technology Organization of the Netherlands.

Transformation of learning spaces

• Multiple careers during lifetime
• Increase of self-employment
• New technologies (3D and 4D printing, robotics, additive manufacturing, free-form production, sustainable energy and smart technologies)
• ICT impact on reshaping professions and jobs of all kinds.

The issue facing business leadership of how to stimulate a sustainable innovative environment will also have a huge impact on the content of education and on learning spaces and environments both in education and in business. People need to adapt constantly to changes in their professional environment and invest in learning and upskilling so that they may become the entrepreneurs of their own future.

The physical environment of learning spaces does not limit itself to college buildings. Work-based learning partnerships in changing work environments are also part of the spectrum. Learning does not only take place at school or college, but also in the working environment and in informal settings.

Leadership of scalable learning

• Leaders need to ignite the “passion of the explorer” in their work force
• Keep the best people stimulated to generate innovative ideas
• Long-term planning horizons to be replaced by “zoom out and zoom in” strategies?
• How can anyone really learn in an environment that is highly risk averse, standardises all activity and tightly specifies every step that must be taken?
• What would institutions look like if their core rationale were scalable learning?
• What if the reason we’ll come together in institutions in the future is that we’ll learn faster as participants in these institutions than we ever could on our own?

In years to come there will still be large companies, but they may be driven by a different rationale: scalable learning. Is the pursuit of scalable efficiency conducive to scalable learning? What would the physical work environment look like if the focus were on accelerating learning, performance improvement and worker experience?

Credentialing and upskilling

• Establishing qualifications of licensed professionals or organizations
• Credentialing of competencies acquired outside college (during the “arc of lifetime learning”)
• “Rewarding” people’s exertions to keep up with social and economic developments.
• Validation of non-formal and informal learning recognizing the full range of an individual’s knowledge, skills and competences, regardless whether acquired within or outside formal education systems.
• Validation (identified, documented, assessed, and/or certified) of learning experiences
• Investing in pro-active upskilling and life-long development will help build a durable career base.

Tuesday, 13 June

Tour of industry

• Visits to be related to the key themes of the first conference day, may include airbase (JSF), shipbuilding yard (mega yachts), innovation centre, metrology and flow metering plant, welding company etc.
• Plenary closure at Sustainability Factory for TA3 members and non-members

Wednesday, 14 June

TA3 member business meeting and final adjournment, including farewell luncheon.

IMPORTANT NOTE: