Cooperation between cooperatives and mutuals in the Asia-Pacific region

Platform Cooperativism Stream Lead, Professor Bronwen Morgan recently presented a research poster on platform cooperativism at the 14th annual International Cooperatives Association Asia-Pacific Research Conference in Newcastle – the first time this annual meeting of the global body has been hosted in Australia. Over 100 attendees from 12 countries in South, East and South-East Asia as well as the Pacific joined colleagues from Australia and New Zealand for two days of in-depth exploration on the theme of cooperation between cooperatives and mutuals in the Asia-Pacific region. This theme is highly relevant to the development of platform cooperativism, which requires the building of bridges between the traditional cooperative sector with its 100 year history of governing for member and community benefit, and the opportunities afforded for scaling and refreshing this potential through integrating digital platforms more deeply into the traditional governance model. This integration, argued the research poster presented by Professor Bronwen Morgan, both responds to contemporary consumer demand for digitally-embedded service delivery while also building in protections against the income inequality and unequal bargaining power problems of many extractive digital platforms – primarily through shared ownership and participatory governance. The poster identified that approximately 2.1% of current registered Australian cooperatives are contributing to this kind of bridge-building win-win scenario, primarily in the retail, agribusiness and transport sectors.

Professor Morgan also chaired an industry panel at the conference on the theme of “Cooperative Innovation for Sustainability and Equity: How cooperative innovation and digital technology can contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals.” Presenters included Molly Kendall from Resource Work Cooperative  in Tasmania, Australia’s largest not-for-profit worker-owned cooperative; Andrew Ward from The Coop Incubator, which incubates member-owned businesses in NSW and Victoria; Rohan Clarke from Geddup Platform Cooperative, a community organising platform for schools, trade unions, foundations and community groups; and David Davies from AgUnity, a philanthropic venture applying blockchain and smartphone technology to improve the lives of small farmer cooperatives in developing countries.