Presentation of GRACE16 key findings at the 2016 International Summit of Cooperatives (Oct 12, Quebe

Its been only a couple of days after the end of the 3rd International Summit of Cooperatives and I already feel the psychological "regression to the mean", following a spectacular week in beautiful Quebec City.

After almost 12 months of back-end work, I was given the opportunity to present at the summit, the key findings of the Global Research on Augmented Collaborative Economy 2016 (GRACE16) and immediately after the privilege and honour to facilitate a round-table discussion featuring Coop leaders and experts namely: Mr. Florian Strassberger, Managing Director at DZ Bank (Germany), Ms. Stefania Marcone, Director of International Relations and European Policies Office at LEGACOOP (Italy), Mr. Charles Gould, Director General of the International Co-operative Alliance (Global), Mr. Ernst Hafen, President at MIDATA.coop (Switzerland), Mr. Eyal Farkash, Vice President on Development and Information Systems at Coop Israel and Mr. Marco Aurélio Borges de Almada Abreu, CEO of Bancoob (Brazil).

Commissioned by and executed for CIBP, the study (GRACE16) reflects the views of Coop C-suite and upper management leaders as well as of employees, members and customers across 110 Coop institutions from 18 industries and 47 countries, on cutting–edge topics reflecting the key areas of Collaborative Economy that are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

In accordance to the axioms of GRACE16, ACE is hypothesised as a potentially novel model for cross-sector collaboration among Coops that combines C-commerce, digital platforms and potentially IoT in the mid and long-term to empower all Coop players to collect, synchronise and exchange data, co-develop and co-deliver novel or complementary superior value-added services, make better use of time and resources and combine their capabilities to harness the power of cross-sector value networks.

The basic idea is summarised as follows:

What?

Collaborative Commerce or C-commerce has gradually evolved into a critical business practice for improving performance and competitiveness through an integrated and cooperative value chain. In the mean time platform-oriented companies in network markets that already represent a considerable fraction of the economy and the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) are fuelling a new type of competition and driving a profound global macroeconomic change.

So what?

This not only foretells the continued rise of data and knowledge management but it also means that very soon, discussions around the future of Cooperativism could be directed towards platforms, ecosystems, digital assets, demand-side economies of scale, network effects and the way C-Commerce along with digital platforms and IoT could blur the boundaries between the digital and physical world and potentially represent a significant nascent competitive advantage and growth potential for Coops.

Now what?

All this gives rise to the need for a global dialogue that could potentially lead to the generation of a novel prototype framework and model for cross-sector collaboration among Coops. A model that combines C-commerce, digital platforms and potentially IoT in the mid and long-term to empower all players to collect synchronise and exchange data, co-develop and co-deliver novel or complementary superior value-added services, make better use of time and resources and combine their capabilities to harness the power of cross-sector value networks. This is what we call Augmented Collaborative Economy or ACE and as we define it, represents a new way of thinking about Cooperativism.

ACE is game-changing. When problem-solving thinking, shifts from technology to design, the time is right and the conditions are ripe for the beginning of a global dialogue on the possible balance of costs and benefits with respect to a widespread adoption of ACE by the Coop community.

Our research is a hands-on, inspired and analytical guide to forging novel capabilities and driving future business strategies for Coops, pursuing success and growth within a collaborative economic ecosystem. We are grateful to all Coop representatives and individuals who participated in GRACE16 Research and Hackathon (Strategic dialogue) for the insights, experience and knowledge that they shared with us.

GRACE16 overall, was a long and complicated project that would have been impossible to execute without the continued support of CIBP's Secretary General, Dr. Andrea Karner and the work of Mr. Umberto Di Pasquo (Senior Project Manager). But when you work with the best, everything becomes so much easier.

The International Summit of Cooperatives is the world’s leading event for business development in the cooperative and mutual community that attracts more than 3,000 participants from 93 countries.