Events
Melbourne | Sydney | Adelaide
MELBOURNE
Commons Governance MasterclassSunday 6 December, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Melbourne Law School
Room G29, 185 Pelham Street, CarltonMelbourne
Brought to you by the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law (CREEL) and the Open Food Foundation.
Join us for a mind-expanding masterclass in commons governance by the international peer-to-peer innovator Michel Bauwens, helping us solve practical problems in designing institutions to meet the challenges of the coming decades.
In this masterclass, Michel Bauwens, the founder of the P2P Foundation and a co-founder of the Commons Transition Platform, will share his knowledge and analysis of the core issues in commons-based pathways for generating economic and social innovation.
Michel will present on the basic problems and principles in commons governance design, emerging tools such as innovative intellectual property licences and blockchain technology, and case studies from Spain, New Zealand and virtual transnational spaces.
After an initial presentation, Michel will work with masterclass participants for another 45 minutes to collectively analyse, critique and generate suggestions for the emerging issues of a local Australian start-up: the Open Food Network, a non-profit, open-source enterprise supporting local food initiatives globally.
The second half of the masterclass will workshop governance models and issues arising from the projects and experience of participants in the room.
Tickets: $25 unwaged/$50 full
MELBOURNE
Mindful Uprising
Sunday 6 December, 1:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Melbourne Polytechnic
Level 1, Building E, 144 High Street, Prahran
Melbourne
Brought to you by the Centre for the Future and Melbourne Polytechnic
A pop up People’s Summit to coincide with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Session One
Sets the scene with global leaders in citizen-led economic and environmental innovation.
The opening keynote presentations will cover:
- reinventing what it means to be human
- culture, politics and economics as change catalysts
- new entrepreneurial coalitions and networks
- the role of the partner city and the partner state
- creating material and immaterial Commons
- anticipatory and participatory democracy
Keynote Speakers
Richard Hames, CEO of Centre for the Future:
Changing our worldview and world-system in response to the question: What does it mean to be human?
Michel Bauwens, Founder of the Peer to Peer (P2P) Foundation:
How citizens are creating a sustainable commons society and economy and how ‘Partner City and State’ approaches catalyse innovation and momentum.
Session Two
Deepens the engagement by showcasing inspiring local and trans-local citizen and community enterprise exemplars and social movement responses to our climate, energy, economic and social challenges, showcasing exemplars from:
- Open Food Network - the best way to fix the system is to start a new one
- Earthworker Cooperative - a network of community owned cooperatives
- Melbourne Alliance - emergence through relational community organising
- Framed Democracy - bringing citizen participation to federal politics
- Ability Capital - overcoming the problem of retirement income adequacy
- Footscray Maker Coop - workspaces for collaboration and co-creation
- Sharing Cities Network - activating local sharing communites
Session Three
Bringing participants together in sessions designed to activate local citizens in response to our interdependent and co-arising systemic crises and generate priorities, next steps and clear actions.
SYDNEY
Commons Governance Masterclass
Tuesday 8 December, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Michael Crouch Innovation Centre
Ground Floor, Building E10, University of New South WalesGate 2, High Street, Kensington
Join us for a mind-expanding masterclass in commons governance by the international peer-to-peer innovator Michel Bauwens, with a live-streaming link-up to Janelle Orsi in California!
In this masterclass, Michel Bauwens, the founder of the P2P Foundation and a co-founder of the Commons Transition Platform, will share his knowledge and analysis of the core issues in commons-based pathways for generating economic and social innovation.
Janelle Orsi, co-founder of the Sustainable Economies Law Center in the Bay Area, USA, will join us by live-streamed Google+ hangout for this workshop.
Michel will draw on basic principles in commons governance design, emerging tools such as innovative intellectual property licences and blockchain technology, and case studies from Spain, New Zealand and virtual transnational spaces. Janelle will describe some of the legal building blocks for commons-based economies.
After initial presentations, Michel and Janelle will work with masterclass participants for another 45 minutes to collectively analyse, critique and generate suggestions for the emerging issues of a local Australian start-up: the Open Food Network, a non-profit, open-source social enterprise supporting local food initiatives globally. The second half of the masterclass will workshop governance models and issues arising from the projects of participants in the room.
Light refreshments will be made available to participants.
Free, Registration Essential
SYDNEY
Blockchain WorkshopsThursday 10 + Friday 11 December, 11:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Powerhouse Museum
500 Harris Street, Ultimo
SydneyEVENT RECORDING (58 mins):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiAYwatLe4Q
The Blockchain Workshops investigate the upcoming challenges and opportunities provided by blockchain technologies, and their impact on the current social, economic and political order.
Michel Bauwens will be delivering a keynote:
The Blockchain as a Trojan Horse
Friday 11 December, 1.30pm - 2.30pm
The blockchain, a new gateway to commons governance or a Trojan horse for Austrian economics?
He will also participate in two panels:
Alternative Economies and Reputation-Based System
Friday 11 December, 2.30pm - 3.30pm
The blockchain as a means to eliminate the monopolization of measurements of economic value, supporting the creation and viability of competing value systems, new economics and incentive structures.
Decentralised Collaboration and Commons Based Approaches
Friday 11 December, 11.30am - 12.30pm
Are trustless blockchain technologies inherently libertarian? Can they be applied to promote grassroots community and decentralized collaboration? What are the most relevant use cases of blockchain technologies for commons-based peer production and grassroots innovation?
Tickets (2 days): $520
Brought to you by Share Adelaide and Conservation SA and funded by the Office of Green Industries SA and the Department for the Premier and Cabinet
Attention makers, hackers, open source-rs, sharers, community leaders, collaborators, co-creators, transitioners, creatives + ethical entrepreneurs of Adelaide!
Are doing un(der) paid 'work for the world', or creative work of any kind, because it is your passion? Are you stuck in ‘job’ – because you have to? Would you love to find a way to sustain a livelihood with purposeful work where your skills and talents could be fully unleashed?
A new type of economy is emerging – you may have heard it called the sharing economy, the collaborative economy, the peer-to-peer economy.
Join this conversation with Michel Bauwens, Founder of the P2P Foundation and Head of Research for Commons Transition, to learn about:
- how digital technologies are enabling people to come together, physically and virtually, to share, coordinate, collaborate, to create and distribute value in a new way
- how the new economy can strengthen the resilience of our communities and support the transition to a more sustainable way of life
- how we can create co-operative livelihoods of purposeful work that enrich and sustain both the commons and those who contribute to the commons, including examples from Spain (Las Indias) and New Zealand (Enspiral)
Michel Bauwens is a world-renowned peer-to-peer and collaborative economy theorist, writer, researcher and speaker, and will give insights into many initiatives he encounters in his work and travel. Bring your ideas, challenges and stories in conversation with Michel and fellow Adelaide 'Do-ers in Residence'.
Free, Registration Essential
ADELAIDE
Co-operatives Forum
Monday 14 December, 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Seminar Space, Level 2, Flinders at Tonsley
1284 South Road, Clovelly ParkAdelaide
Brought to you by the Office of Green Industries SA and Department of State Development
Co-operatives are serious business.
Internationally, co-operatives are estimated to provide employment for over 100 million people, with three hundred of the world’s largest co-operatives generating a combined annual turnover of over USD $1.6 trillion, equivalent to the world’s ninth largest economy.
In Australia, the top one hundred businesses that operate as co-operatives, mutuals and credit unions control a combined annual turnover of around $27.9 billion and the number of members of co-ops and mutuals is 14.8 million.
By their very nature, co-operatives are more resilient in economic downturns, and help keep money and jobs in local communities.
Many Australians are already members of a co-op – for example, a credit union. Right now, the co-operative landscape is dynamic and innovating quickly. What differentiates newer co-op models from the co-ops we are more familiar with? What kind of advantages do they offer, and what challenges do they create?
Michel Bauwens, Founder of the P2P Foundation and Head of Research for Commons Transition, is a world-renowned P2P theorist, writer, researcher and speaker. He will offer insights into a range of co-operative models from around the world, as well as exploring:
- how existing co-operatives can learn from emerging co-op models to become even more effective with fulfilling their mission, and achieving economic, social and environmental objectives
- how co-operatives could provide more secure livelihoods of purposeful work in an era of precarious employment
- innovative models such as multistakeholder and open co-operatives, using case studies such as Spain’s Las Indias, Italy’s Emilia-Romagna and New Zealand’s Enspiral
Free, Registration Essential
ADELAIDE
Feed Your Brain Innovation Forum
Monday 14 December, 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM
Seminar Space, Level 2, Flinders at Tonsley
1284 South Road, Clovelly ParkAdelaide
EVENT RECORDING (55 mins):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF1ozNN0edE
Brought to you by the Office of Green Industries SA, New Ventures Institute, Flinders University and Cowell Clarke Commercial Lawyers
Designing globally, manufacturing locally - what happens when individuals with access to computers and a social network can freely self-organise, collaborate and produce digital commons of knowledge, software, and design?
Michel Bauwens will present on how commons-oriented technologies and collaborative environments, along with distributed and micro-manufacturing, can lead to new methods of production.
Bauwens will explore:
- how digital innovation coupled with collaborative design is enabling new ways to create value
- how open, productive communities are creating a ‘commons’ of shared resources through their contributions, and how market-oriented entities are creating added value alongside this commons
- how peer production can assist in transitioning to low-carbon, resilient futures in Australian cities, and open up opportunities for business and innovation
- the diverse possibilities of production emerging from meshing collaborative design with networked makerspaces, co-working spaces, fablabs and microfactories
Free, Registration Essential
ADELAIDE
Fresh Thinking – Turning Ideas Into Action
Monday December 14, 3pm-5pm (registrations begin 2.30pm)
Panorama Room
Adelaide Convention CentreEVENT RECORDING (14 mins):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTJ0hgsPoGUBrought to you by YourSAy, Department of the Premier and Cabinet and Office of Green Industries SA
How do we recognise a good idea, maximise its value and spark it into action?
Finish the year inspired – come along and listen to a dynamic panel of speakers discuss how to recognise a good idea, maximise its value and spark it into action.
You will gain insight into a range of innovative co-design techniques and community actions, and learn how to motivate groups to think differently and generate effective outcomes.
Better Together Showcase events bring thought-provoking guest speakers, informative presenters and inspiring practitioners together to profile how they have shaped and influenced engagement practice throughout the world. The intention is to bring new energy, enthusiasm and skills into the engagement community across South Australia. Anyone can attend these events.
Please arrive from 2.30pm for registrations, ready for a 3pm start
About Michel Bauwens
Peer-to-Peer and Collaborative Economy Expert
Michel Bauwens is the Founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives (P2P Foundation) and Head of Research for Commons Transition.
He is a world-renowned peer-to-peer (P2P) theorist, academic, writer, researcher and conference speaker on the subject of new technology, digital media, culture, politics, governance and social and economic innovation.
He works in collaboration with a global group of researchers in exploring peer production, peer governance, peer property, the collaborative economy, and the commons. He travels extensively giving master classes and public lectures on the open, free, participatory, sharing and commons-oriented modes of human cooperation and on P2P and the commons as emergent paradigms and the opportunities they present.
Michel is a founding member of the Commons Strategies Group with Silke Helfrich and David Bollier, organising major global conferences on the commons and economics.
He is the Chair of the Technology / ICT working group, Hangwa Forum (Beijing, Sichuan), to develop economic policies for long-term resilience, including through distributed manufacturing.
He is currently Primavera Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam and external expert at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in the Vatican. He has taught at Payap University and Dhurakij Pandit University's International College, as well as IBICT, Rio de Janeiro.
Michel is a member of the Union of International Associations (Brussels), advisor to Ouishare (Paris) and Shareable magazine (San Francisco), to Zumbara Time Bank (Istanbul), and ShareLex. He is also scientific advisor to the Association Les Rencontres du Mont-Blanc, and writes exclusive editorials for Al Jazeera English and Open Democracy.
In 2014, Michel was Research Director of the FLOK Society (Free/Libre Open Knowledge Society) 'Social Knowledge Economy' project for the government of Ecuador. This major initiative produced the first integrated Commons Transition Plan with fifteen associated policy papers.
In January 2015 CommonsTransition.org was launched and builds on the work of the FLOK Society, featuring newly revised and updated, non-region specific versions of these policy documents. Commons Transition promotes a society of the Commons that enables a more egalitarian, just, and environmentally stable world.
Michel is co-author with Vasilis Kostakis of ‘Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy’ published by Palgrave Pivot in 2014. He also was the lead writer and researcher for Orange Labs of the major innovation publication ‘A Synthetic Overview of the Collaborative Economy’.
In his first business career, Michel worked for USIA, British Petroleum, Riverland Publications, Belgacom, and created two internet start-ups, respectively on intranet/extranets (E-Com) and interactive marketing (KyberCo), which were sold to Alcatel and Tagora Holdings.
Michel is originally from Belgium, and currently lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Research Focus
- ‘peer production’ practices that were pioneered in the free software and open source communities and businesses; value creation through shared knowledge, shared code, and shared design (open hardware and distributed manufacturing)
- open business models, collaborative innovation practices and commons-oriented economic models based on shared code or design; free software/open business models, forms of innovation that are based on dialogue with user communities (open innovation, co-creation, co-design), and on business models deriving from user-generated content
- commons-oriented policy making and governance, establishing a new relationship between state, private sector and civil society, in which new forms of enterprise integrate externalities, align themselves to communities that become the core of value creation, and new forms of practices for the state and public authorities which ‘enable and empowers the creation of value by civil society’, ie. a ‘Partner State’ approach
- ‘peer production’ practices that were pioneered in the free software and open source communities and businesses; value creation through shared knowledge, shared code, and shared design (open hardware and distributed manufacturing)
