Imagine 2012 and the Opening of the International Summit: Monday Preview

Imagine 2012 is the international conference on co-operative economics – it finishes on Monday and will be followed by the opening ceremony of the International Summit of Cooperatives in the evening.

Highlights of Monday’s Imagine conference include talks on the role of co-ops in the new economy, and the directions that co-ops need to take.

The day will kick off for the early risers with a speech on ‘How is worker ownership related to the health of communities?’ by David Erdal, the author of ‘Beyond the Corporation: Humanity Working’ at 8.30am.

Following this Vera Negri Zamagni, Professor in International economics at University of Bologna and co-author of ‘Co-operative Enterprise: facing the challenge of globalisation’ will discuss ‘Is bigger better? New opportunities for co-operatives’ at 9.15am.

This will have commentary by Samira Rajan, CEO Brooklyn Co-operative Credit Union, USA.

Claudia Sanchez-Bajo and Bruno Roelants, authors of ‘Capital and the Debt Trap: learning from co-operatives in the global crisis’ will be asking ‘Is the Debt Trap avoidable?’ at 11.15am.

In a speech at the Mainstreaming Co-operation conference at Manchester, UK, July Claudia Sanchez explained that co-operatives are less likely to fail in a crisis, because they have increased ownership and are able to plan and distribute their wealth over the long term.

At 2pm there will be a tribute to the Ideas and Work of Dr. Elinor Ostrom, who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prixe in Economics for her analysis of economic governance. She is the only woman to have won the prize in this category.

This will be run by Dr. Barbara Alle and be followed by a film about Dr. Elinor Ostrom.

The final speech of the conference ‘Co-operative economics? Key directions from the new economics and implications for co-operatives’ by Professor of economics at Saint Mary’s University, Sonja Novkovic, will bring the conference to a close.

The opening ceremony of the International Summit of Cooperatives starts at 5.30pm.

The opening addresses be performed by: Monique F. Leroux, President and CEO, Desjardins Group, Dame Pauline Green, President, International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), Dr. J. Colin Dodds, President and Vice Chancellor, Saint Mary’s University and Pauline Marois, Prime Minister of Québec, Canada.

The opening speech on ‘the Amazing Power of Co-operatives’ will be done by Riccardo Petrella, Economist, politic scientist and alter-globalist at 6.30pm.