Cooperatives Europe announces new strategic partnership to promote knowledge sharing

The partnership aims to stimulate the emergence of collaborative spaces for community-driven innovation, and anticipate the transition to a digital society

The regional organisation of the International Co-operative Alliance, Cooperatives Europe has launched a new partnership to stimulate collaboration between co-working spaces, innovation communities and educational institutions.

Co-founded by the Erasmus + programme, the partnership wants to encourage new collaborative spaces for community-driven innovation, and anticipate the transition to a digital society.

As part of the Sharing, collaboration, co-operation programme, Cooperatives Europe and its partners will produce a best practices report on collaborative spaces and co-operative governance models. They will also create a map of higher educational programmes embedding work-based learning in co-working environments.

Another project activity will involve developing a policy paper on a co-operative vision for the digital society and enabling community-driven innovation.

In addition to these initiatives, Cooperatives Europe and its partners will host two transnational learning sessions for practitioners involved in the setting up and development of collaborative spaces.

The four leading partners in the project are Cooperatives Europe, OuiShare Quebec, Mondragon University and Impact Hub Firenze. They will be joined by four pilot co-working spaces.