
We won! Open:2017 #Digiden kickstarter
We are delighted and honoured that fairmondo.uk was voted the winner at Open:2017‘s #DigiDen competition. The dragon’s den style event saw three projects Re-publica radio (daily radio podcasts, supported by Paul Mason), Rhino Charging (community electric vehicle charging stations) and fairmondo.uk. Each pitcher was questioned by the panel judges: Vivian Woodell from The Phone Coop, Emer Coleman, Disruption and Ed Russell, Co-operative Web. The final decision was made by conference participants using slido.com app. Felix Weth (fairmondo eG) and Jack Thorp (fairmondo.uk) both presented sessions on how a cooperatively owned marketplace could provide an alternative to the “extractive platforms” such as Amazon, eBay, etsy etc.
The prize – 4 days of bespoke business advice from The Hive and £2,000 from The Co-operative Bank – is a shot in the arm for fairmondo.uk during our start up phase. The business advice will help with our aim to move from a Workers Coop to a Multi-stakeholder coop (MSC) and the knotty legal and insurance issues surrounding online platforms. The cash prize will be used for platform development work and preparing for our 2017 crowdfund.
Open:2017 in a packed programme brought together people from around the globe who are actively collaborating to build the components of a new economic system built on fairness and sustainability. The programme over 2 days at Goldsmiths gave builders and practitioners space to present, envision and deliberate on how we might collectively and peacefully transition to a “collaborative economy”.
See also Coders, Commoners and Cooperators for a fuller discussion on #platformcoops and fairmondo in the latest edition of STIR Magazine available to buy now.