WHO WE ARE

TSI foundation is a Dutch based network-organization (Rotterdam and Groningen). We work on organizational, urban and regional challenges and are internationally connected with partner organizations. We are a diverse team, with different educational and professional backgrounds. From economists, psychologists and designers to business, policy, legal, technical and educational professionals.

WHAT DRIVES US

As we are facing the first stages of systemic transformation or transition we find many of the systems we created in the past don’t serve us any longer. We are highly committed to finding sustainable solutions to ensure a future for the next generations.

We’re thrown back on our capacity to experiment and find out, and our courage to do so. Systemic change demands an open mind, agility and stamina and surely is not for the weak-hearted. Nevertheless, we find it can be great fun to join hands and encounter the world of what is yet to be discovered.

WHAT WE DO

TSI foundation works on catalysing and facilitating systemic transformation within organizations to address societal challenges in a sustainable way. This means we support organizations who are working on systemic change and are willing to take a leading role; who invite stakeholders, create allies and bring the necessary resources together to make a jump-start.

Fields we are working on include Energy, Health Care, Education and Urban Development, all of which are characterised by bottom-up processes, citizen participation, sustainability challenges and the complex search for new meaning, new value systems, new relationships and a new order.

HOW WE DO IT

As we face complexity and so called wicked problems and there are no blueprints at hand, we stress the need for creativity, play and experimenting on a small scale. By emphasizing the need to co-create, bringing stakeholders together and facilitating the processes we support redesigning and innovation. We bring in the creative industries on the level of innovative products as well as on the level of breakthrough thinking.

Keywords think tank, emerging leadership, youth empowerment, social business, transition, penta helix, co-creation, creativity creation, crossover, action research, connectivity, sustainability, natural organising, getting things done differently, social value & impact, and co-realizing the emerging future for a better world.

It’s an exiting time: we’re not living in an era of changes but in a change of eras. We have to be prepared to experiment, to find out, to be creative and innovate. This calls for creativity, determination and perseverance. We need a different kind of leadership. As no one has a fitting solution for the future we can only take part in the process.

“We need to create a better understanding of social innovation by bringing public and private sector entities together with philanthropists to think about the types of tools and incentives needed to put an ecosystem in place.”

Asher Hasan, Founder, Naya Jeevan, Pakistan; Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

Transitions requires ownership (the awareness that the issues at stake are important to you) as a bench-mark in deciding who should work on complex issues. This goes for city- and organizational development as well as societal challenges. We help to create new narratives as the 'old' language and 'old' stories often fall short to reflect on new solutions or future based actions. 

We are convinced that the element of 'play' is a valuable asset. Therefore we create experimental situations or 'playgrounds' to foster new insights and to break through counter productive patterns of behaviour. 

We enlarge creativity within organizations, help to overcome dysfunctional barriers in hierarchy and increase cross-departmental co-creation.