Client: Rijkswaterstaat – Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
Date: April – November 2025
Location: Netherlands
A new relationship is emerging between people and their possessions; one where ownership gives way to access, and where things are no longer meant to gather dust, but gather stories. Entrepreneurs and citizens alike are writing this new chapter of consumption, one where access meets demand. Libraries of things, neighborhood sharing stations, rental shops and peer-to-peer platforms are becoming the new marketplaces of trust and community. This new future of consumption holds many promises for citizens to come together and become resilient, resource-efficient and social communities.
Bax Innovation, together with the Sharing Cities Alliance, was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) to assess the current state of the sharing economy in the Netherlands and to explore the potential for creating a national network that supports an advanced and integrated sharing ecosystem across the country.
Challenge
Although sharing models and services are widely recognised as strategic levers for achieving circularity objectives, our assignment confirmed that there is currently no single umbrella organisation that can steer and support the systemic transition required to develop the Dutch sharing economy. Across the country, many entrepreneurs are developing sharing-economy services, and many cities and regions are willing to collaborate with them. However, stakeholders often lack the vision, knowledge, and tools needed to launch effective public–private partnerships and scale the sharing economy together.
Approach
Bax was commissioned by Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, to support the development of a new national network for the sharing economy. As part of this effort, the team mapped and visualised all active organisations within the sharing economy, conducted interviews with both sharing economy providers and national support networks, and organised a meeting with over ten municipalities. Additionally, Bax co-organised the “Sharing Room” at the Dutch National Conference on Circular Economy.
Impact
The project convened more than 50 cross-sector organisations to contribute to the early development of a Dutch national sharing-economy network. It received a positive go-ahead from the Ministry, recognising the need for and supporting the launch of the network.
The project concluded with a set of recommendations to the Ministry outlining potential activities for the new network and exploring financing options to strengthen and scale the Dutch sharing economy.
