News

At the Flying Money conference in Amsterdam on May 24th, Berenschot facilitated a workshop on the legal and financial possibilities to create and effectively govern an ‘anti-organised crime fund’.

The ‘Platform Forus’, an initiative set up by the consortium comprising Foundation Forus, the Municipality of Zuidhorn, QHN IT specialists and Berenschot, is one of the two winners of the blockchain competition run by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase II.

To facilitate the climate debate, Berenschot has come up with and calculated two extreme scenarios: an electron scenario and a molecule scenario. In both transition paths, CO2 emissions will be reduced to virtually zero by 2050. It is likely that the future scenario will actually be somewhere in between these two. The scenarios are not mutually exclusive and by and large they share the same infrastructure. Combinations are perfectly feasible, but hydrogen is the key.

Yesterday, the Dutch Intelligence and Security Services Act referendum marked a first for the Municipality of Groningen: at five polling stations, rather than counting the votes by hand, they were counted using a blockchain application. The council worked on this project with Berenschot consultants and LAB15 technology partners. The turnout could be followed in real-time and when voting closed, it was compared with the number of votes counted.

Berenschot and Ecofys have examined how the Dutch chemical industry could reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 80-95% by 2050. This goal can be technically achieved by putting efforts into targeted innovation and with a package of investments in both the chemical industry and energy sector.

The demand for electricity that is accounted for by data centres is steadily increasing. The sector has already been making a great deal of headway in terms of sustainability; however, it could become even more sustainable by making better use of residual heat. This was the conclusion reached by experts during an ICT convention organised by Berenschot on behalf of Nederland ICT and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO.

Executive boards of professional organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of communication. Reputation and the impact of communication are becoming regular themes at the top. But at the same time, the position of communication can be improved as far as the rest of the organisation is concerned.

The Economic Board Utrecht (EBU) has asked Berenschot to research promising blockchain propositions in the Green and Healthy domains in the Utrecht region.

How the HR function develops in practice is largely explained by the way organisational tensions are dealt with. The most effective HR structure emerges when opposites are well understood. This is the main conclusion of a study that was conducted by Berenschot in collaboration with the Amsterdam Business School (UvA). Organisations are never finished and in practice, the HR structure is continually being adjusted to suit changing developments within and outside the organisation. Changing tensions and the pursuing of multiple goals lead to a constant dynamic.

Employees are remarkably positive about working in the technological sector. Approximately 83% of employees see digitisation and robotisation as a promising opportunity and encourage these developments. They feel that technology makes their work more challenging and fun. Employees enjoy learning and have a need for professional training and information.