Table 2

Lessons learnt with illustrative quotes

Theme	Lessons learnt	Illustrative quotes
External communication and external collaboration	How to engage with donors and the public Remain closely connected to important organisations and figureheads	‘Meet the demand, feed the hunger’ (Corporate staff3, 13 years) ‘Good public health relations are needed. During an outbreak, there must be short lines with public health authorities to be able to act quickly. Involve the stakeholders continuously in the project.’ (Corona Steering Committee PowerPoint of lessons learned, slide 6) ‘What I'm trying to do is really implement this start-up where you always start, ‘What is the problem? Where is the need?’ instead of, ‘We have this product. What can we do with this?’I think listening to potential customers is really helpful. And this is another way of thinking, I believe, if I compare it to what we did in the past and what kind of hurdles I experienced.’ (Innovation, 4 years)
Resources	Need for modern and capable IT infrastructure and digitalisation Right personnel in teams and within the organisation Legal representative, copyrighter, capable HR that can provide needed personnel quickly Someone with overview, who can create alignment and steer Recognising and including change agents	‘IT software needed for databases with possibilities for a reliable link with eProgesa and any other software. This software must be GDPR proof. Start as soon as possible with setting up a database with registrations (new or former donation type) and the progress of the process. In order to be able to combine data from different departments, it is necessary that agreements are made about unambiguous recording of key variables within Sanquin. It is important to create a quick overview of what data is expected and how it is managed and how requests for data are handled. E-Progesa again proved too inflexible and too expensive to adapt. It is not possible to switch to another system, but investigate possibilities to build a flexible shell around eProgesa. (Corona Steering Committee summary report of lessons learned, p. 6)
Culture/way of working	Have an improvisational, experimental culture: proactivity, flexibility, with elements of team improvisation Avoid going back to complacency Alignment/common focus and goal early on Mutual communication/ collaboration platform (eg, group) Embed reflection moments Work on projects that are directly useful/ applicable Have a shared vision/bigger picture, but individual responsibilities	Corona has shown us that we can do it. Once the crisis is there, we can act very quickly and very thoroughly. So I think the biggest bits to avoid would be going back into complacency…People need, I think, a little more commercial firmness. If we're not getting there with this crew or this way of working, then what do we do to change it? And do it. And this is Sanquin’s soft spot. This is where Sanquin usually backs off and says, ‘Never mind. Never mind. We'll just keep it as it is.’ (Corporate staff3, 13 years) ‘We are not slaves to the system--workarounds are possible’ (Researcher2, 37 years)
Internal collaborations and communication	Continual improvement of relations between departments and divisions Build from historical collaborations into current and future opportunities Have groups with focus and elements of ‘culture/way of working’ (previous theme)	‘Everyone is hungry for that connection and collaboration’ (Blood bank1, 5 years) ‘So my advice is we need coordination. We need commitment from the board of directors. But in the coordination, do not put only researchers, also put business developers for commercial parts and also persons who can deal good with the government, and make a team and create a communication part internally. So everybody is involved. Because I have the feeling that we are working very hard together, but we waste a lot of time because we are not updated enough.’ (Management3, 28 years)

GDPR, General data protection regulation; HR, Human Resources; IT, Information Technology.