Workshop 1: New Locations and Infrastructures for Connected Activities

This first workshop asks the questions...

- what infrastructures are needed? are they already set up?
- how can these places be set up on a large scale?
- what are lessons learnt from existing teleworking/co-working centres?
- which innovative approaches?
- which economic models?

I'm interested in this session because in Manchester we've recently seen some dynamic user-led initiatives such as Fly the Coop for coworking which is now moving into MadLabUK, a shared space for digital innovation and creativity.

First 2 speakers were talking about some interesting models that were already out there - now we've got Patrick Anghert from Cisco saying that yes, the technology is there, and actually countries like France are behind places like South America. Its interesting that the whole "teleworking" thing always seems to be seen as a hi-tech thing (e.g. with video conferencing etc.) when in many ways freelancers etc. often need smaller, everyday support. In Amsterdam the Mysmartworkspace project allows you to reserve space in the smart work centres - and also allows you to have drycleaning and childcare etc. on the site.

W-Network of smart work centres in the Netherlands now has 20 sites - they rolled it out throughout the country. In Seoul they have 500 smart work centres. Wonder if this is any different at the end of the day than serviced offices? I can't imagine Cisco come cheap...? See if this question gets asked later.

Telepresence centres in the US cost $150-$300 an hour to hire. Always wonder at what level this becomes unsustainable.

We now have Serge Le Roux from French Teleworking Association. He says there are real challenges around teleworking. True teleworkers often "don't have a choice, and are obliged to work from home." If you want to cut down carbon from people's travel to work, then teleworking, either part time, full time, or having local/suburban teleworking centres, it can actually make a big difference.

Now this is more interesting, we've got Marie-Vorgan Le Barzic, director of La Cantine in Paris.  Its all about "people" working together, enthused, collaborative people. Great picture on the screen of 52 people all using La Cantine at one particular time.

Interesting point from the floor about this being a particular French model - 30% public funding - and an "assumption" that it will be available. In Germany the model would be more likely to be more private sector. (In the UK it could well be either, it would be wrong to generalise.) Good point that its important that when a building is established that at the earliest point there's some real clarity about "what it is" and "who will use it." La Cantine is very much a "special case" and is seen as such in France. Investment was risky but the public element was relatively small. Now its got a reputation and anyone visiting Paris who knows about La Cantine will be likely to visit it (rather than Starbucks.) I think this is the way things are going in Manchester - where there's a genuine network of independent knowledge workers who value coworking, cooperation, real time collaboration.  It would be great to see some exchange go on between La Cantine and Manchester's Madlab and Social Media Cafe! 

I see that people here are very interested in the economic models, which is definitely a sea-change. Nobody's particularly talking about the environmental efficiency of teleworking/co-working but think this is an inbuilt assumption. It's interesting that La Cantine's uniqueness is what makes it successful - "its not very replicable" says someone from the floor.

More good points... the "driver" for talking about teleworking is to save people from having long commutes to work - so everyone agrees its a good idea, but its not always possible that companies will go along with this - particularly with the current economic crises. Interoperability is an issue. "Companies are not saying no, but they're not saying yes - and local authorities are not going ahead with their main investments."

In Spain the main issue is about public sector productivity - as the local government is the biggest employer, identifying productivity is hard at the office, so harder elsewhere!

Because business models are currently changing there is a real question about knowing what will work and for whom around private-public partnerships. Perhaps its a case of "let many flowers bloom" and then support to the hilt the ones that do. (In the UK context I get the sense that initiatives have to be hyper-local, as it is local need - i.e. proximity to the building - that will make people use it.)

Interesting perspective from Morocco - "the multi purpose building" is key to successful community spaces. It sounds like we're having to "reinvent" what we used to have, "the community centre" - but with perhaps added value.

A very interesting point from the floor.... that we don't really know what we are spending our (taxes) money on or what their costs are. ICTs can or should help us save money so that we can reinvent the models. A move away from "productivity" (which can be reductionist) to "creativity" and "culture" in a knowledge based economy. We need to be "entrepreneurs of skills."

Brilliant phrase..."we need to reinvent the middle ages, we're about coming to the end of the industrial age!" Perhaps the guild might make a comeback? Culture and artists are good examples of how we share our work spaces (there's some laughter at that!)

In Lyon, 3 companies have moved to a more immaterial form, and their workers work harder and longer as a result. Productivity might be a particular issue for public sector "value" - that's a whole different discussion.

I think on that point, I'll probably wrap up the blog for this session - it's almost impossible to pull together the many different aspects of the session when its such a diverse group. Some fascinating examples, and some fascinating thoughts on the important questions. What strikes me as different from a UK based conference is that here there's a real interest in challenging the questions themselves. In the UK the question is often set - either by the public sector, or by the theme - and then sits there unchallenged. Here there's a real willingness to question preconceptions.

The next workshop "Economic Models in green and connected cities" should follow on neatly from this.