There is an interest in a transition to a more social, democratic and ecologically sustainable economy that goes beyond economic profit and strives for a positive social impact for the community. The principles of the community economy provide a good guideline to further develop this by connecting mission-driven, social (impact) enterprises and non-profits, where social impact is integrated into all facets of the company or organization, to local roots. The majority of the profits and surpluses are reinvested here in local impact, whereby the generated value remains with the entrepreneurs or in the neighborhood and is not skimmed off by shareholders elsewhere.
This project explores what kind of support digital technology can offer to the development of a locally-rooted, social economy in the city of Amsterdam and creates a roadmap that indicates what actions can be taken to realize this. What is possible and necessary in the digital field to support and develop the community economy and community-driven entrepreneurship? Which instruments, infrastructures and data management models are needed? How can technology strengthen the cooperative ecosystem, and how can we connect to existing initiatives at home and abroad? For example in the field of data management, cloud use, open source software and support of platform cooperatives and/or underlying infrastructure.
Project lead: Sophie Bloemen
Run time: February 2025 – Present