Open State
Concept
"An ‘Open State’ is a state that welcomes new ideas, from both within and outside its borders, to transform its economy and create new industries and jobs." (from Australian conference [1]
Organisation
"Open State is an experimental working collective seeking to overcome the existent, deficient model of society in an Open-Source manner.
The following text is extracted from their website
"How could we end up in this world nobody ever wanted? Global warming, loss of species. Poverty and boat people. Oppression and surveillance. Isolation and burnout.
We sign petitions, eat organic, recycle and retreat - and yet the overall negative trends keep accelerating. Science calls us the peak society, stumbling in a perfect storm of combined crises.
This is an emergency. Open State is your exit.
Let's stop fighting the existing model and start building a new one.
Overcoming the current system sounds utopian, yes, but what's the alternative, when our present has become unbearable? Will we be the generation that stood by when our biosphere collapsed and our dignity crumbled?
Imagine people making their own energy, food and housing. More time and less stuff to worry about. Believing in their own stories, not those of corporations or politicians. Back in harmony with nature, neighbours and our inner voice.
Open State is a beginning.
We don´t have ready-made solutions, but the path is made by walking. Together we build the prototypes and new narratives of the sustainable society.
Some say that the collapse of our ecological and societal systems is already inevitable. But tons of people and projects have already started to build the future we need. Open State will be the missing piece - the catalyst to help those shining lights break through and become the new mainstream."
Events
Conference in Adelaide
- Open State 18-27 October 2016, Adelaide South Australia
URL = https://openstate.com.au/
The Open State Festival in South Australia and South Australia’s Collaborative Economy Innovation Challenge
HARLEY DENNETT:
"Jay Weatherill opened Open State, the 10-day innovation and collaboration meta-festival in South Australia, on Wednesday with a challenge to his bureaucracy.
Can it lead by example in a new sharing economy?
South Australia’s Collaborative Economy Innovation Challenge seeks to make the state the new home for this new low-footprint economic and entrepreneurship model, and is still in the design (co-design) and research phase.
It seeks to use all the assets at the state’s disposal to bring this vision to reality: its people, its creativity, and its public sector.
“All governments around the world own and operate all kinds of public assets, things like schools, halls, cars, machinery, and sporting grounds,” said Weatherill.
“There must be a better way of exploiting blatant unused assets so that public value can be increased, jobs created, and service delivery improved.
“Is there a way to manage the fleet of government-owned vehicles to advantage disadvantaged people or to cut carbon emissions?”
This question is typical of the type of challenges that the Open State event is posing, drawing on the talents of the community, and especially, looking beyond government for all the answers.
Weatherill frames this as government posing the questions, outlining the objectives, but not dictating the solution that might emerge.
REUNITE THE PUBLIC SECTOR WITH THE COMMUNITY
Open State reflects the work thousands of South Australian public servants are doing to empower citizens to have their say.
Citizens Juries, Country Cabinets and GovChat foster greater engagement with the community and create new opportunities.
They are just three of the initiatives that are being managed by the SA Department of the Premier and Cabinet to connect with South Australians.
Weatherill is keen to reset perceptions of distrust and disconnection, a challenge not unique to South Australia, or even the nation.
“It draws on my belief that the single biggest challenge that is facing this community is distrust in politics, and distrust in politicians.
“What if the problem is the other way around? What if it’s that politicians have lost their trust in people? What we need to do is reconnect people with the decisions in their lives.
“That can be a scary proposition for politicians. Some regard that as handing over power to the mob, and what can happen if you do that.
“I fundamentally believe in their intelligence and wisdom of our community.”
Listening, not shouting loudly to the exclusion of anyone else, is central to making that work, Weatherill says.
Entering into a dialogue that faces real choices, putting the citizen in the position of a decision-maker.
That doesn’t mean that the public sector is irrelevant, redundant, or replaceable, but Weatherill does want the public sector to treat the community as citizens, not subjects.
“We must get away from this notion that government is somehow this ‘other’, that is separated emotionally and intellectually and physically from the broader community that it seeks to serve … public servants are just ordinary people who have devoted their lives to try to make society better.” (http://www.startupsmart.com.au/news-analysis/sa-premier-suggests-government-reconnect-with-community-through-sharing-economy/)
The Camp in Berlin
Introduction
A 5-week-camp near Berlin, Germany, marks the start in which we´ll train, communicate and open-source these people and their projects.
In 35 days we´ll build a fully operating, replicable cell of a future-proof society. And here´s how:
Projects
We look for scalable, potentially sector-disrupting concepts in the areas of food, housing, energy and communication. Project teams should be diversified and able to prove that they´ve executed similar endeavors in the past. Their production & development model needs to be (made) public in accordance with open source philosophy. Above all this is a call for the misfit and rebels, the thinkers and makers of a tomorrow´s world.
Transition Towns
Facing the age of peak oil and accelerating climate change, this network has been inspiring hundreds of communities worldwide to rebuild their own resilience and start up projects in areas of food, transport, education, waste, arts etc. as effective small-scale local responses to global challenges.
Jerry Servers
These mini-servers are extremely robust, only use standard electronic components, and are partly even built from electronic waste. These open source servers work with wireless internet antennas, mesh network functionality and solar cells.
Thus, a Jerry Server can even run without access to grid electricity.
Earthships
Described as “the most versatile and economical sustainable green building design in the world”, earthships drag all the home´s electricity from the sun and the wind, catch rain water for drinking, bathing, flushing; contain and re-use the sewage and maintain comfortable temperatures in the building all year long.
Experts
A multi-disciplinary pool of experts - from permaculture practitioners to business consultants to designers and craftspeople - will solve the current obstacles our Camp projects face and lift them to the next level of efficiency and impact. In addition, we will offer resources such as contact networks and continuous procedural mentoring. Have a look at the people we´re already working with here.
Method
Projects, experts and a constant flow of inspirational visitors will challenge themselves in workshops, field trips and reality checks, all to foster not only the projects one by one, but also to instill cooperation and synergies among all.
Blueprints
Together we create a functional on-site prototype of the smallest unit of a sustainable future society. This prototype and each Camp project will be translated into replicable, easy-to-use blueprints and licensed under creative commons, so that interested groups of people can refine the concepts, adjust them to local needs and implement them into their own setting.
Outlook
The Camp site is there to stay, an openly accessible workspace to realize small and large utopias and a lab for contemporary, sustainable living. After the pilot Camp we plan to assemble a top-notch international advisory board that will carry the results to decision-makers in the economy and politics. Academic researchers, think tanks,and institutes will provide the scientific framework to the practical results.
Open State means both a physical space as well as a new state of mind: To live in free creativity and collaboration with fellows, connected with nature, empowered by open source tools. We build the future today with our beliefs and actions. From peer to peer, from state to state we shape the picture of a better society.