Inaugural lecture by Wendy van der Valk: collaboration is key to our digital and sustainability transition

On November 11, Professor Wendy van der Valk will mark her appointment to the endowed chair of Purchasing & Supply Chain Management by delivering her inaugural lecture at Tilburg University. In her lecture In Contact with the Contract she will outline an exciting future facilitated by increasingly complex contracts. Complex and all-encompassing social issues such as digitization and sustainability are creating a need for new approaches to contracting and collaboration. Her research looks at how data and sustainability are shaping the contracts that clients and contractors enter into, and the development of their subsequent working relationship. Wendy's exploration of how we need contracting and collaboration to make the digital and sustainability transition a reality is predicated on a number of essential questions. How does data support decision-making and problem-solving? How can data be deployed effectively in the condition-driven or predictive maintenance of a physical product? Who is responsible for ensuring that more sustainable solutions become more widely adopted, to say nothing of making the necessary investments? All of these questions need to be answered when drafting a contract and developing a basis for collaboration. Alternative forms of contracting combined with alternative approaches to collaboration are key to the success of the dual transition, the professor argues.