A new collaborative search engine featuring guides, articles, videos, books and other resources on co-operative entrepreneurship is now available.
Coopedia it gives co-operative experts the opportunity to reference their own resources and build a ‘one stop shop’ for co-operative knowledge.
Coopedia is an initiative developed under the ICA-EU Partnership (#coops4dev). The idea for a collaborative search engine on co-operatives emerged via the CoopStarter 2.0 project led by Cooperatives Europe.
The resources will be available for anyone to access and review. Those registering as a contributor can add their resources as well as peer-review content that is already available. Registered searchers will be able to request resources that are not yet available on Coopedia, which contributors will look up for them.
Cooperatives Europe is encouraging co-ops and co-operative umbrella organisations to implement their version of the Knowledge Base on their respective websites and will cover the costs of installation of the Coopedia iteration of the Knowledge Base for two of its members.
Agnes Mathis, director at Cooperatives Europe, said: “Coopedia Knowledge Base will serve as a catalyst for new co-operative start-ups, knowledge exchange and new partnerships across the world. We are proud to have developed a software that will bring added value not only to our members but to the co-operative movement worldwide – a direct impact of the ICA-EU partnership and the Erasmus+ project.
“Moreover, the current pandemic underlined even more the importance of digital innovation and knowledge sharing as key factors to ensure inclusive economic growth. Coopedia is a great example of it and a way of being a part of the process.”
