Spotted Zebras
= "an open value network of integral playful innovators and initiators who collaborate, co-design and prototype the change they want to sprout and spread".
URL = http://www.spottedzebras.be/
Description
Provided by Ria Baeck:
"Spotted Zebras is a Belgian network of integral, playful innovators and initiators who collaborate, co-design and prototype the change they want to sprout and spread. A continuous social lab as a new function within society, where people from all over society find each other to learn, experiment and prototype together; as there are no simple answers anymore to the complex challenges we face.
We work and live from the assumption that people who co-create together can tackle the most challenging and complex situations. Therefore, our first aim is to wake up this sleeping social capital in our society."
Characteristics
"Spotted Zebras, as a network, is hosted by Percolab Belgium (a cooperative business). It offers services for business and organisations looking for innovation in the social skills; and organises training about practices, models and technologies informing the future of work. Spotted Zebras is a network of leaders, innovators and citizens who want to create more meaningful work, while having more positive impact on society.
In order to do this we offer to:
- Build collective capacity
We want to build social capital around social innovation – in its widest definition. That’s why we want to support and encourage new relationships of all kinds. We will offer regular meetings in order to bring different initiators together where they can share ideas, where they receive inspiration, where there is time to reflect and to learn together.
Our intention is to organize seasonal meetings where you can come back, time and again. We invite all kinds of professionals, beyond any specific topic or methodology so that we can profit from real diversity!
- Find allies
The time of talking is over, this is the time to take action and do things differently! Time for local and social entrepreneurship with tons of experiments and prototypes: linking participatory ways of working with social entrepreneurship, linking IT tools with social challenges, linking open source with the current economy etc. We are all entrepreneurs, in one way or another, in service of the commons and the common good.
Every gathering will focus on learning together: learning from our try-outs, being a sounding board for each other, asking deep and challenging questions, asking for help to make a project into reality.
Learning is always to get new perspectives on the tasks at hand. We want to understand the power of diversity, the consequences of complexity and what is exactly systemic impact.
- Discover edges
We will bring in new ideas and stories about prototypes happening all around the world who take the notions of open source, solidarity and commoning serious and innovate with new IT tools, new models of governance and new ways of working in ecosystems – bringing us to new levels of understanding and inspiration to also try out radical ideas.
- Create levers
To support the commons – and to create more commons – we need a new definition of (citizen) participation: where citizens, government officials and business people see each other as equal partners in co-creating the new solutions we need. None of this is possible if we don’t see and support the unique contribution of each individual and of each role in society. We will support the discovery of your unique gift and how it can contribute to the world around you.
And we will celebrate our small and bigger steps, because we enjoy to be alive!