Global Innovation Coop Summit

Under the theme ”Act now for a circular and digital future the cooperators way”, members of the cooperative movement and their collaborators are meeting in Montreal to come up with concrete, innovative solutions.

How do cooperative networks illustrate the importance of the circular economy, of digital transformation, of the leadership of the future? How can we better link these networks to institutions of education and training, and use synergies in other connected fields and sectors? How can we increase the cooperative footprint in these discussions globally? How can we measure and attain meaningful action to build these circular and digital futures? The event will address all these issues

Themes

Cooperative leadership will be the foundation for discussions on how to create a circular and digital future.

• The “Let’s get CIRCULAR” theme seeks to explore how to create sustainable cooperative communities today on local, regional, and international levels to benefit people and the planet while creating a cyclical economy that will last generations.
• “Living DIGITAL” will explore how cooperatives are adapting in an increasingly digital world. Three years after the start of the pandemic caused the influx of work-and-schooling from home and increasing globalized connection through the internet, we want to explore how cooperatives can be on the leading edge of this rapidly changing digital landscape.

Host and Co-Host of the Event

Global Innovation Coop Summit (GICS) was established in 2020 to create a productive space for cooperative and mutual leaders and partners to share, exchange, learn and build a more inclusive plural economy. GICS brings the cooperative and mutualist movement together to inspire innovation, and open doors for new ideas to be implemented. By giving cooperatives and mutuals a neutral space to share successes and help each other grow, GICS aims to inspire, promote, and foster the development of cooperative and mutuals enterprises around the globe. 

The Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives is co-host of the event. The Institut promotes the development and sharing of knowledge on the management of cooperatives and provides a forum for different players in the cooperative movement to meet, debate and learn, and support research with a model open to research themes on cooperatives from all disciplines.

If we want to protect what is dear to us, our families and friends and their options in the future, then we need to learn from each other. In Montreal, I hope that conversations between co-op innovators and researchers, experienced cooperators and fresh minds (also from other sectors and businesses) will clarify what will have to change, how it can change – and make us appreciate what there is.

Rafael Ziegler

Member of RRECQ, director of the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives.