Designing the next stage of the cooperative movement: CIBP publishes the Global Research on Augment
The GRACE16 Intelligence Report explores the potential of a novel prototype model for cross-sector collaboration between Cooperative and Popular banks and other Cooperative enterprises, through digital platforms, Internet of Things (IoT), Collaborative Commerce (C-Commerce), to combine their capabilities and harness the power of cross-sector value networks.
The Global Research on Augmented Collaborative Economy 2016 is a two-stage research that consisted of an online survey and two Hackathons (guided strategic dialogues), with the participation of 282 Cooperative leaders, experts and academics across 126 Cooperative institutions, from 18 industries and 52 countries.
Remarking on the research, Dr. Andrea Karner, Secretary General of CIBP (Confédération Internationale des Banques Populaires) pointed out that: “inspired by Jeremy Rifkin and his bestseller “The Zero Marginal Cost Society”, we envisaged the cooperation between cooperatives as collaborative commons. CIBP members, as well as the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) are looking for improvements in performance and competitiveness, through an integrated and cooperative value chain and by using new technology. Moreover, within a collaborative economy, cooperatives provide the perfect legal framework to protect people and data from being exploited by market forces without restraint”
Following up on CIBP’s action plan 2015-18 and the study Designing Tomorrow’s Cooperative and Popular Banks by Dr. Filippopoulos of Shakesteer, CIBP has identified, in concertation with its members, the key catalysts of change in the banking sector, and in the context of our Digital Lab, launched GRACE16. With its research efforts, CIBP intends to position itself as an additional critical component to its member banks' ongoing search to identify the ways Cooperative and Popular banks will work in the coming future and how they would react to the disruptions experienced in this fast-changing world.
The research was conducted for CIBP by Dr. Fotis Filippopoulos of Shakesteer, who also facilitated the Hackathons (guided strategic dialogues) that took place during the 18th International Cooperative Studies Conference (IGT/ICCS) in Lucerne and the 2016 International Summit of Cooperatives, in Quebec City.
The focus has been from the very beginning, on the intersection of cross-sector C-commerce, digital platforms and IoT, quoting Dr. Filippopoulos as saying “With platform-oriented companies in network markets already representing a considerable fraction of the economy by connecting in real-time buyers, sellers, partners and various communities of users and the emergence of the IoT, it is clear that they represent formidable forces that are fueling a new type of competition and driving a profound global macroeconomic change. In this environment we could witness Coops gradually being transformed into cross-sectoral platform ecosystem, digital asset management and IoT capability-driven organisations, further enhancing their role in customers’ and members’ lives, with real-time services on an any-market, any-time and any-where basis”.
Moving on, Umberto Di Pasquo, senior project manager of CIBP, reflecting on GRACE16, mentioned that “It's been an amazing privilege to work in this cutting-edge project that has involved top-notch cooperative business leaders and thinkers. It was definitely not only about Fintech and IT development, because, by analyzing the impact of the digital economy on Cooperative and Popular banks, other Cooperative sectors and their members, we focused on the global opportunities that the convergence among cooperatives could create”. In fact, directly quoting from the study, when it comes to digital identify, the opportunities for Coops - within a secure data-driven ecosystem - are game-changing, as providers of secure authentication, authorisation and certification of Coop identity to 1 billion Coop members through the creation of a worldwide shared data network that further strengthens and integrates cross-sectoral collaboration among Coops, globally.
CIBP is grateful to all its members, and especially the patrons of the research DZ BANK AG and BANCOOB, as well as the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the International Summit of Cooperatives and the IGT/ICCS Conference that all have strongly supported our efforts. A special thanks to the participants for their collective effort to shape the future of Cooperatives.
