Rising population of freelancers has greatly contributed to the huge expansion of coworking spaces in Europe in the recent years. Coworking spaces have become important creative hubs that are empowering independent professionals and where innovative projects with social impact are being developed on the principles of new economic models and free cooperation. Coworkers can think bigger than just economics, provide space to be in a community and contribute to the wider community.

The concept is simple: professionals from different working areas, independent workers, nomad workers and entrepreneurs find themselves in the same physical space to work on their own projects.
They don’t only seek to break with their isolation and to find an alternative solution to their home office or to the company office they are used to work from but also to belong to a community of individuals who are open to exchange ideas, and eventually, who are ready to collaborate.

In order to unlock the full potential of coworking culture and its potential to support the creative industries field,
the conference will focus on the continuous innovation processes that are needed to manage the coworking community, space and content.

Conference Programme

8:30 – 9:00

Registration

9:00 – 9:20

Address by the organisers

Felicita Medved | President, European liberal forum (ELF)

Zdravko Počivalšek | Minister for economic development and technology

Luka Piškorič | co-founder Slovenia Coworking, Poligon Creative Centre

9:20 – 9:40

Keynote speech (1)

“Critical on old and new models of economics”

Mihael Kline | University of Ljubljana, Faculty for Social Science, Ljubljana 

9:40 – 10:20

Presentation of a research paper

“The development of coworking culture in Slovenia”

Eva Matjaž | Slovenia Coworking, Poligon Creative Centre

10:20 – 10:50

Keynote speech (2)

“Why Policy Makers Should Support the Development of Coworking?”

Tadej Slapnik | Secretary of the state, Government of Republic of Slovenia
Nena Dokuzov| Ministry for economic development and technology

10:50 – 11:10

Coffee Break

11:10 – 11:20

Video presentations

Video interviews with coworkers

11:20 – 13:00

Panel discussion

Coworking as model for social and economical innovations

Marie-Hélène Feron | La Fonderie, Paris, France

Matija Raos | Croatia Coworking, Croatian association of independent professionals, Zagreb, Croatia

Mareike Mueller | Impact Lab, Berlin, Nemčija

Marko Radenković | Nova Iskra, Belgrade, Serbia

Moderator: Luka Piškorič

13:00 – 14:00

Lunch break

14:00 – 16:00

Workshop

Coworking as tool. Use it!

16:00 – 16:20

Conclusion and summary of the conference

16:20 – 17:00

 Afternoon snack and socializing

Conference moderator: Aljaž Pengov Bitenc