Cooperative Platforms in Europe

* Article: COOPERATIVE PLATFORMS IN A EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY. By Elena Como, Agnès Mathis, Marco Tognetti, Andrea Rapisardi. ISIRC Conference, Glasgow , September 2016

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Abstract

1.

"In the past years we have assisted to the rapid spread of what is now commonly called the “sharing economy” in various sectors, adopting different forms frequently based on the use of the Internet and digital platforms. Looking at the underlying discourses of the sharing economy (collaboration, solidarity, sharing), we find many elements in common with the vision and experience of the cooperatives. Because of these common elements, but also challenging that narrative on the field of governance and democracy, cooperatives themselves are becoming interested in the phenomenon and are trying to understand which forms of convergence they can develop.

Moving from a recent pioneer experience of research conducted in Italy, LAMA Agency and Cooperatives Europe expanded and explored the perspective and experiences on the sharing economy of cooperatives at European level. The research explored the level of awareness, the interest, practical cases, opportunities and barriers of the cooperatives approaching the sharing economy topic. The two organizations interviewed the representatives of national cooperative associations in 9 different EU member states and launched an online mapping survey collecting 38 sounding empirical cases from 11 European countries, plus 3 initiatives from outside the EU. The study demonstrates that cooperatives can contribute to the collaborative economy promoting models of community based on membership rather than usership, supporting new initiatives to manage the commons, but also getting the business model transformation opportunities enabled by digital platforms and internet technologies. The paper provides also suggestions for further research and work at EU level."

2.

"The interviews addressed 5 broad research questions:20

1. What is the understanding of the collaborative economy on the part of the national cooperative movements, and their general attitudes towards this emerging phenomenon?

2. What are the levels of awareness and knowledge of the collaborative economy among individual cooperatives at the ground level, and their degree of interest in terms of innovation potential?

3. What is the actual spread of innovative practices among the cooperatives? What key sectors and types of cooperative innovations are directly or indirectly being inspired by the collaborative economy?

4. What is the role of cooperative umbrella associations, in terms of promoting awareness, debate, and experimentation?

5. What are the key challenges, opportunities, and future paths for cooperatives in the collaborative economy field?"

About the authors

• Elena Como is Research and Innovation Area manager at LAMA. She has worked in Italy, Europe,

and in a number of developing countries and emerging economies, including India, Mongolia, South Africa, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Tanzania, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the past two years Elena carried out researches, analysis and benchmarkings on the role of coopeartives into the Sharing Economy at a national and international level. She has extensive experience in the evaluation of public-private partnerships and projects in the field of health and welfare.

• Agnès Mathis has worked in the co-operative movement for more than 20 years. After being

responsible for European Affairs at Febecoop (the Belgian federation of co-operatives), in 2006 she joined Cooperative Europe as deputy director, in charge of advocacy and institutional relations. Agnès took over the position of Cooperatives Europe Director in June 2016.

• Marco Tognetti is a co-founder of the cooperative consulting agency LAMA where he is

Executive Director since 2012. He is also a co-founder of the Impact Hub Florence coworking space and the research lab ARCO based at the University of Florence. He carried out external Evaluations, Feasibility studies and consultancies (business modeling/planning) in Italy, Europe and a number of developing countries where he supported private, public bodies and cooperatives to carry out innovative projects.

• Andrea Rapisardi, is a co-founder of LAMA and of the social research platform ARCO jointly

promoted by LAMA and the PIN Centre - University of Florence. Presently, Andrea is the President of LAMA and the reference expert of the company in the area of health, welfare and cooperatives. In this role, he is responsible for developing the company’s external relations with relevant national and international institutions, networks, organizations, and professionals. In his daily practice, he carries out consultancy work for local administrations, private companies, cooperatives, health institutions, scientific associations and nonprofit organizations.