Joost Jan Elenbaas Wins ERCIS Master Thesis Award
IE&IS OML master鈥檚 student Joost Jan Elenbaas receives the ERCIS Master Thesis Award for research on collaborative business models and system dynamics models for offshore green hydrogen production.
Joost Jan Elenbaas, an Operations Management and Logistics (OML) master鈥檚 student in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, has received the ERCIS Master Thesis Award. His graduation research demonstrates how collaboration and well鈥慸esigned business models can contribute to the energy transition
Energy Challenge
The transition to sustainable energy raises complex questions for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and grid operators. Offshore wind farms increasingly produce more electricity than can be directly used, leading to curtailment and energy loss. At the same time, demand for green hydrogen is growing as an energy carrier for industry and mobility. The challenge lies in connecting these domains in a way that is economically viable.
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Elenbaas explored how a collaborative business model can be designed for offshore green hydrogen production using excess wind energy. He brought together various stakeholders, including energy producers, infrastructure operators, and public authorities. By actively involving these parties in the design process, a model emerged in which value is shared and risks are jointly managed.
Dynamic Insight
To move beyond a conceptual design, he translated the business model into a system dynamics simulation. This made it possible to show how policy choices, market developments, and technological progress interact over time. The research demonstrates that the viability of offshore hydrogen production strongly depends on factors such as stable regulation, targeted subsidies, and appropriate electricity pricing mechanisms.
Practical Value
The findings clarify the challenges entrepreneurs and society must learn to navigate. Investments in sustainable energy require long鈥憈erm thinking, cross鈥憇ector collaboration, and policies that evolve alongside technological innovation. Stakeholders from the Dutch hydrogen sector confirmed that the insights are recognizable and applicable in practice.
The research was conducted within the Information Systems group of IE&IS. Elenbaas was supervised by Oktay Turetken as first supervisor, together with Konstantinos Tsilionis and .
About ERCIS
The European Research Center for Information Systems is an international network of universities and researchers in the field of information systems. ERCIS promotes collaboration, knowledge exchange, and talent development and annually recognizes outstanding master鈥檚 research.