Project Description
What if the drivers owned Uber? Or how about a “Facebook” owned by the 1.86b users who create the “value” in the platform?
The idea of platform cooperatives is starting to gain mainstream traction and was the focus of Open 2017, the UK’s first multi-day, multi-stream event looking at how the shared ownership of digital platforms can help speed the transition to a new, more collaborative economy.
Presented by The Open Co-op (co-founded by Focal Point) and in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London, Open 2017 brought together more than 400 contributors at the cutting edge of the cooperative, open source and collaborative economy.
Over two days we heard from speakers including Brianna Wettlaufer, Co-Founder and CEO of Stocksy; Trebor Scholz, Co-Founder of Platform Coopertivism; John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor; and many more. See the full line up of contributors.
The conference was a sell out with delegates attending from as far away as Australia, Canada, Finland, Palestine, Thailand, Turkey and the United States. A great result for a first-year event.
Working with the other two Co-Founders to develop the event from scratch (planning, marketing, sales, sponsorship), Focal Point also provided full event management for the conference with responsibility for all operational preparation and on-site management
We also helped develop the “Open Space” element of the conference where delegates helped curate the programme, live, on the first day of the event.