Over the past years, citizen collectives have grown into visible players in sectors such as energy, healthcare, housing, and food. What does their rise mean for how we organize our economy? The next CollectieveKracht event (in Dutch) will dive into this question with a keynote from Professor Irene van Staveren (ISS, Erasmus University) and five parallel interactive sessions.

This event will take place at the Lindenberg Cultuurhuis in Nijmegen. This event is made possible by the municipality of Nijmegen.

Description
Citizen collectives seem to follow a different institutional logic than the market, but their actual relationship with the market is not always so clear. They redistribute economic power, potentially reduce dependence on major market players, and can even discipline markets through price pressure or new norms. At the same time, their increasing numbers raise important tensions. Does competition arise between collective and commercial providers—and is that desirable? What happens when collectives professionalize? What happens when they make a profit? Can they use market mechanisms without losing their own values, or does mission drift threaten once financial sustainability becomes more important?

This event brings together scientists, policymakers, practical experts, and representatives of citizen collectives to explore these questions in depth. For everyone who wants to understand how the economy and society are reinventing themselves from the ground up.