Town Hall 1 – The Capital Conundrum (Q&A) as Part of Who Owns the World? PCC Conference at The New School 2019

Summary

Town Hall 1- The Capital Conundrum (Q&A) with panelists from Who Owns the World Conference, convened by the Platform Cooperativism Consortium at The New School in November 2019.

About This Town Hall
Without access to real capital, the cooperative digital economy cannot thrive. Platform co-ops around the world struggle to access start-up funding given that traditional venture capital is not appropriate for these enterprises. Various groups have received foundation funding. British cooperators are using the Community Shares Model, which allows them to benefit from tax incentives for startups. Adapting the Mondragon process, cities like Cleveland (US) and Preston (UK) follow an ecosystem approach to launching and funding worker cooperatives. Yet others explore ways of creating “user trusts” to democratize the Internet. Learn about diverse financial instruments and strategies that can help groups to launch an upstart without venture capital. Together with the International Cooperative Alliance, philanthropists, and communities worldwide, we need to urgently take bold steps to meet these challenges.

Panelists:

• Nathan Schneider, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at The University of Colorado Boulder
• Amelia Evans, MSI Integrity and Research Fellow at the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy
• Ludovica Rogers, Program Manager at Co-operatives UK
• Olivera Marjanovic, Professor at University of Technology Sydney
• Emma Adelaide Back, Founder of Equal Care Co-op
• Felix Weth, Founder of Fairmondo
• Christopher Mackin, Founder and President of Ownership Associates, Inc.