Tackling social challenges with creativity and imagination
Climate change, polarization, and one crisis after another: not everything is proceeding smoothly nowadays, and solutions cannot easily be found. Could it be time to look at challenges differently? Einstein already said: “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”
Rabobank is the principal partner of the Dutch Design Foundation
Climate change, polarization, and one crisis after another: not everything is proceeding smoothly nowadays, and solutions cannot easily be found. Could it be time to look at challenges differently? Einstein already said: “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” Rabobank believes in the power of art and creativity to create social breakthroughs, to discover different solutions and methodologies. That’s why we decided to join forces with the Dutch Design Foundation. In a joint voyage of discovery, together we are scouring the world of design for projects, ideas, and concepts that can contribute to a more sustainable and better world.
This collaboration didn’t come out of the blue but is in line with Rabobank’s vision of the value of art and creativity to society. As a source of knowledge, a driver of change, and a carrier of basic research. That vision is also reflected in the leading Rabo Art Collection and the Rabo Art Lab; a free space in the bank where artists are invited, tough questions are asked, and artistic research is conducted.
Design power
For its part, the Dutch Design Foundation (DDF) believes in the problem-solving ability of designers to make the world a better place. The organization supports their work and gives them a platform as well as publicity. The partnership with Rabobank is bringing together farmers, builders, policymakers, ecologists, designers, producers, bankers, and citizens. This creates a vibrant cocktail of research and experimentation, and of ‘design power’ with which we explore the possibilities of sustainable change.
We want to use that power to accelerate social transitions that we are in the middle of. Such as the energy transition – the way we generate and use energy – and the food system transition – the way food is produced and distributed to the world’s rapidly growing population. We set out (re)designing with an inquisitive mindset.
We do this by jointly exploring initiatives that we can help scale up with our knowledge, networks, and financial services. As a strategic partner of the Embassy of Food and the Embassy of Circular & Biobased Building (more about this below), we support research projects and dialogues that we hope will yield brand-new opportunities and interesting insights.
“The imagination stemming from the creative world plays a crucial role in the major transitions in our society,” says Marc Cootjans, Director of Cooperative Rabobank Eindhoven Region. “Through the partnership with DDF, Rabobank looks forward to leveraging its networks, knowledge, and financing capabilities. To support the best ideas in this world, so that they get to scale and have a big social impact.”
Practical examples
What exactly does this collaboration look like? Several events have already been scheduled for the coming period, such as Match for Impact and the Dutch Design Week.
Match for Impact
From dredging as a high-value production material to a solar harvest module with light sensors, the Match for Impact meeting on September 15 will bring together innovative projects, ideas, and concepts that Rabobank employees have selected together with DDF. Initiatives that can contribute to sustainable solutions for a better world. These will be further developed during the event. Because a brilliant idea is not enough; sooner or later it needs to be scaled up. We do this not only through financial support but also by coaching, sharing knowledge, and forging coalitions. The strength of our networks allows us to connect ideas with implementers.
Dutch Design Week
From October 21 to 29, Rabobank will be present at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, Northern Europe’s largest design event. Works by more than 26,000 designers will be presented to more than 355,000 visitors from home and abroad at various locations throughout the city.
Participation in DDF ‘embassies’
Rabobank is also a strategic partner of the Embassy of Circular & Biobased Building and Embassy of Food programs developed by DDF.
Embassy of Circular & Biobased Building
Together with designers, expert partners, and other involved parties from the construction and agriculture sectors, we will search for new perspectives for a sustainable living environment. A good example of this is the Possible Landscapes concept: a design-based study of a new green economy. The study is especially examining the possibilities of ‘biobased’ construction, i.e. building with animal materials or with responsibly grown fungi, plants, and bacteria. This certainly presents opportunities – for farmers who want something different, for builders and residents who want a cleaner working and living environment, for improving biodiversity and soil and water quality, and for combating resource scarcity.
Embassy of Food
With the Embassy of Food, Rabobank will work with its partners to map the food chain. The aim is to identify innovative scenarios for a better food system. Because food can bring about change, if we eat, produce, and transport differently, we can greatly improve the current (unsustainable) system. Together with a network of designers, farmers, policymakers, businesses, nature experts, producers, and scientists, we will explore new perspectives on how we engage with our food. Here too, the central question will be: how can the power of design reshape the current food system and offer new perspectives? With ‘Farm of the Future’ as the overarching theme, we focus on sustainable agriculture and the protein transition, among other things.
With this partnership, Rabobank is therefore bringing a new perspective to its organization. The ambition is to learn from each other and use design power to accelerate transitions. Where this expedition will take us is still partly uncertain. And that isn’t surprising, because it is an experiment whose exact outcome is difficult to predict. But everyone agrees that something must be done to meet the challenges of our time. And for that, we must dare to look at things differently. Because if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. In any case, we aim to forge powerful innovative, and creative ideas that will help us move forward as a bank and as a society.
