The Netherlands needs vision and bridge builders to get on top of our socio-economic issues. I distinguish myself through my technological knowledge, my experience in organizing participation and my innovative vision of society.
1 Connected with high-tech companies making social impact
All my life I have been committed to ensuring that everyone has access to meaningful and appropriate work through technological innovation. Since the age of 16, I have been working on innovation issues as an independent entrepreneur. In 2014, I founded the self-organizing cooperative Part-up to distribute work through a platform talent-focused. The 50 freelancers won the New Organizing award in 2018. Part-up was cited by SER in 2020 as an inspiring example in its report on the platform economy. Large hospitals, such as UMC Utrecht, used the platform to (re)organize during the corona crisis and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland now gives its employees 20% ‘Part-up’ time.
Since selling Part-up, I have been associated with several AI scale-ups facilitating internal, external and regional flexible labor market projects. 8vance provides skills-based matching technology to UWV and others to deploy job seekers cross-sectorally. JobLiebe facilitates automated work with different contract forms simultaneously. I also appear at many conferences as a speaker on AI, flexible employability and the future of work.
2 Experience in organizing administrative and practical creative control
I have been politico-administrative active in fighting social inequality for 24 years. I initiated several bottom-up movements (such as Jeugdzorg 2.0 and Zetel 151) to create more equality and involvement in policy challenges. As supervisor of IRIS CVO and LOC Zeggenschap in de Zorg (member NVTZ), among others, I devoted myself to making space for participation of students, parents, clients and employees. I am regularly asked as a consultant and ‘crowd organizer’ in (citizen) participation and self-organization projects.
As a process and project leader, I manage pioneering triple-helix projects to enable regional shared employment. These are complex transformations, due to the diverse interests, in which my process management and intervention skills come in handy. The creative interactive work forms that I deploy (partly online) come in handy to achieve social impact. With my broad experience in healthcare, welfare, education, government and business, I make cross-sectoral connections and engage new groups. See a list of clients here.
3 Laurens has a broad and fresh vision on socio-economic issues
I was trained to build bridges between social issues and tech companies (Technical Public Administration, TU Delft, 2006). I enthusiastically close societal gaps with smart IT, such as AI to find the right person for every job and the right work for everyone at any time. I grant everyone the security of access to work over the security of a permanent job and being able to switch between freedom and stability in contract forms at any time. It is also essential for our international competitiveness to employ everyone sustainably and effectively. My innovative vision of the future labor market was filmed opening the AWVN Annual Conference 2020:
I am not just a dreamer. The challenges of implementation in various sectors are familiar to me. I have sold our Part-up solution for flexible deployment of employees and freelancers more than 50 times. Often I saw projects fail due to resistance to innovation. I enriched my practical knowledge with a training for Intervention Specialist (2022) to achieve changes in systems more effectively. Through trial and error I learned to translate vision into practice, to give people freedom of choice and to entice stakeholders at all levels to large-scale renewal.
I hope I have piqued your curiosity and look forward to meeting you.
Laurens Waling MSc.