Book about consumer cooperatives presented

On 8 March, drs. Pieter Steenbergen presented his book ‘Van ons, voor ons’ (By us, for us. Subtitle: 150 years of resilience of consumer cooperative Coop). The book presentation marks the end of a research project at the SEICA research group to the history of consumer cooperatives in the Netherlands. It also heralds the disappearance of the name Coop from the Dutch cityscapes, because of the merger between the Plus and Coop supermarkets into the new cooperative Plus U.A. The book is available online.

Open PDF ‘Van ons, voor ons’

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Leibniz University Hannover invites Tine De Moor for lecture series ‘Between Eden and the Fall’

On April 23, Professor Tine De Moor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) gives  a lecture titled: ‘The commons as a form of institution for collective action, in longitudinal perspective‘. This seminar is part of Leibniz University Hannover’s summer semester lecture series ‘Between Eden and the Fall: Common Land in Early Modern and Modern Western Europe’.

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Open Seminar Talk: Enrique Santamaría (EUR)

On February 27, 2024 as part of our Open Seminar Series, dr. Enrique Santamaría Echeverría from the Erasmus School of Law gave a presentation titled ‘Our common body? Biological Materials, Data and Knowledge Commons for Research & Development.’ He discussed, amongst others, different theories on the (human body) commons, the legal architecture, the imbalance between provider and recipient, commodification, and (health) data altruism. The presentation led to a lively discussion where participants shared additional insights.

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Publication on motives for cooperative energy prosumerism

Members of energy cooperatives take on the role of prosumers: both consumer and producer by setting up and joining these cooperatives as investors, shareholders and clients. To work towards becoming a resilient institution, it is important that cooperatives preserve their support base by understanding the motives of their members.

The Energy, Sustainability and Society Journal published a study on this topic titled ‘Ecological, financial, social and societal motives for cooperative energy prosumerism: measuring preference heterogeneity in a Belgian energy cooperative‘. The authors, Fijnanda van Klingeren and Tine De Moor from Erasmus University, investigate the preference heterogeneity and motivations of members of a large energy cooperative in Belgium. It uses stated-choice data from a Discrete Choice Experiment in combination with self-reported membership motives.

It turns out that ecological motives seem to be most important for members of this energy cooperative. The article concludes by raising awareness with cooperatives that their legal form may not be the only factor that drives membership. Rather, keeping high levels of renewable energy, competitive pricing and being an interesting investment opportunity may be key to cooperatives’ resilience and further development on the energy market.’

Read the publication here

Non-rivalrous, non-excludable: an interdisciplinary workshop on the evolution of public goods in history

The Oxford Centre for Economic and Social History organizes a workshop about public goods in history. It explores the evolution of public goods and how their provision is shaped by institutions and norms over time. You can find more information about the workshop here.

Professor Tine De Moor from the Rotterdam School of Management will give a lecture during this workshop, titled: “How common were/are the commons? On the semantics and conceptualization of collective resources in history and today”. Other contributors are Avner Offer, Sheila Pugh, David Gawkrdoger, Cesare Vagge, Joost Haddinga, Louis Henderson, and Victoria Gierok.

Jason Roncancio joins research group

Research group Social Enterprises & Institutions for Collective Actions welcomes postdoctoral researcher Jason Roncancio Marin. He will join the SCENSUS project under the supervision of Dr Thomas Bauwens.

Jason is a scholar with a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research interests are centered around the creation of social value and the positive social impact derived from entrepreneurship and innovation outcomes. Jason holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, complemented by studies in Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Welcome! See his profile page for more information.

Event sheds light on financing challenges of citizen collectives

On 25 January, we brought together 130 initiators of citizen collectives, policymakers, scientists and financiers to look for concrete solutions to the financial bottlenecks of citizen collectives.

We organised the sold-out event ‘Financing collective value(s): from challenges to solutions’ together with Triodos Bank and Katalys. The day was opened by Tine De Moor, professor of Social Enterprises & Institutions for Collective Action. De Moor: ‘Citizen collectives regularly experience financial challenges, both due to a lack of policy for this form of governance and due to a lack of confidence in their operation. This is mainly because governments and financial institutions have little to no experience with citizen collectives.’

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