Why should an existing co-op join the cooperative platform economy?
Cooperatives have experimented with technology for a long time. This is by no means a new development. What has so far been missing, however, is a meaningful connection between cooperatives and the digital economy.
Where appropriate, existing cooperatives can create online marketplaces or labor brokerages to better compete with existing monopolies. The home health care sector seems especially suitable for this model. Beyond following the shift of labor markets to the Internet, this is also about data ownership and the prospects of meaningful interoperability between cooperatives. There are 100 million co-ops with roughly 1 billion members worldwide. Combining the ICA principles with the opportunities of digital technologies opens the door to new business models and will attract new generations to the idea of cooperativism.
if your co-op would like to connect with others who are working on this transition.