Coworking Europe 2014 was organized on November 24th, 25th and 26th in Lisbon, Portugal.
Global Enterprise, Cowork Lisboa and the Lisbon Municipality had partnered up to create to most insightful event in Europe regarding the rise of Coworking and its impact on entrepreneurship, innovation and, overall, the future of the workplace.
350 attendees from all around Europe, North America and beyond, gathered during three days in Cinema Sao Jorge, in Lisbon. The Portuguese capital aims to be called the San Francisco of Europe.
Ponte 25 Abril, Lisbon
Close to fifty speakers and panelists shared their thoughts and best practices with an audience made out of coworking space operators, facility managers, real estate pundits as well as city councils representatives, public development agencies, universities or startup incubator managers.
The strenghtening of the global coworking wave
For outsiders, here is a reminder of what coworking is :
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.
As of early 2013, more than 1.200 coworking spaces are in operation in Europe. In less than 5 years, the total of coworking spaces has overtook, for instance, the total of incubators and innovation centers operating in Europe.
Likewise, Coworking spaces are sprouting everywhere on the planet.
The number of coworking spaces worldwide is almost doubling every year, getting close to 2.500 globally.
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Getting rid of the confusion between Coworking and “office sharing”
The coworking concept, is not limited to the sharing of a facility.
It’s based on the emergence of a new type of interpersonal relationships and on the development of exchange communities, with people sharing values of openness, collaboration and readiness for change.
Nowadays, Coworking spaces are reflective of the emergence of new models and new expectations in the business world and in the society in general. The movement represents a wide variety of styles. It reaches out and is expanding to new audiences.
All over Europe, public institutions and companies are starting to consider Coworking as a source of inspiration in order to implement new working, innovation and collaboration approaches.
As of today, coworking spaces host thousands of entrepreneurs, independents and nomad workers already. They will soon host tens or hundreds of thousands them.
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A very impactful trend
Coworking paves the way for tectonic changes in our modern economies.
The concept and values of coworking are shaping the patterns of change in areas as broad as :
- Mobility management
- Transformation of the office furniture market
- Entrepreneurship development
- Evaluation of the demand in public transportation
- Innovation in the corporate sector
- Development of digital and mobile technologies
- Human resources management
- Evolution of the office space design and facility management
- Revival of urban areas
- Development of rural areas
- Development of new ecosystems of innovation
- and countless other impacts…
Future, threats, challenges, promisses…