Hello! I am Maarten Nypels (Maastricht, 1959) and over the past 5 decades I have gone through many stages that you can imagine in a rich and turbulent life. I was active as a squatter during my biology studies, worked as an undercover environmental activist in various Asian countries, lobbied for environmental and development organizations to influence governments and bodies such as the UN, organized intercultural partnerships between people living in and off tropical forests (how beautiful it is to bring these people together on the banks of the Amazon), ended up as an aid worker in war zones and famines (refugee and famine aid in Ethiopia/Eritrea, Malawi, Mozambique, and South Africa) (unfortunately, that is why I also know what it is like to live with war trauma), laid the foundation for the conceptualization and implementation of the first Industrial Eco-Systems in the Port of Rotterdam and later on business parks throughout the Netherlands, and am a co-founder of the Vital Systems approach in Rotterdam, which has recently also been applied in Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Nijmegen.

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Perhaps even more importantly: I am a social animal, only truly live when love and musical creativity can flow between me and others (check my music production together with my son: Martique and son), feel intensely happy when I can work on my ideals, will always be acting like a rebel somewhere, and am quite a nerd when it comes to knowledge. I harbor infinite curiosity and perseverance, and am fascinated by cognitive-emotional development, organizational transformation, and system dynamics, transitions, and leaps. I hold an official neurodiversity diploma: ADHD/Giftedness.

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Education

MSc (Biology) - Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

MBA (Master in Environmental Business Administration), Technical University Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
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Unique expertise

• have over 40 years of experience working in diverse cultural contexts (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe)

• can draw on practical experience bridging neuroscience, governance, education, and organizational development

• am steeped in working in practice-oriented test environments in urban governance

• bring a unique perspective for collaboration between sectors, cultures, and fields of knowledge

 

Philosophy of life

Variety + challenge + connection = life. You can always wake me up for a good perspective shift and/or paradigm shift. Just seeing a group of people gets me fully "switched on". Paradigm shifts and innovation processes require solid science as well as cognitive-emotional openness, practical application skills, sheer luck, and a pinch of stubbornness. Wonderful.

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The Outside-in advantage

When, after a considerable lifetime, I finally discover that I have been diagnosed within the neurodiversity spectrum as a 100-carat "twice-exceptional" (ADHD combined with Giftedness), and I tell this to my friends who have known me for over 40 years, I am met with utter astonishment: "Hey Maarten, we could have told you that 40 years ago."

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My role as an insider coincides closely with that recent diagnosis. Please do not ask me to tell you what it feels like from the inside to go through life as a neurodiversity acrobat. Or how I survive in an environment where I feel quite fundamentally that I do not fit in. Because then, I am practically unstoppable. But if you don't ask, you also miss the fantastic symbolic parallel to surviving as a human being in an increasingly hostile/dangerous/crumbling environment. If you hire me and temporarily add me to a team/organization, the inside-outside advantage unfolds before your very eyes: how I can work from the inside, passionate and connected, with the power of the outsider's perspective.

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No disciplinary silos: freedom to integrate neuroscience, evolution, politics, and education
Validation in practice: ideas are tested through practical implementation, not just theoretical analysis
Paradigm freedom: can question fundamental assumptions without career risk
Drive: driven by societal needs, not by publication statistics
Systems perspective: three decades of pattern recognition in diverse contexts