You have more info about the project hereOn Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 2:30 PM, Tiberius Brastaviceanu <tiberius.brastaviceanu@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Michel,For the status on the open innovation hub in Montreal I'll paste message that I sent to the community involved in building it.Also note that this Friday we have a meetup for funding the Open World.-------------------------------Hello everyone,First, I would like to thank the groups who submitted the form for project description. Francois and I compiled some of the results here.Monday (Jan 03, 2014) morning Francois, Yasir, and myself had a meeting with Genevieve (business development) and Jean Francois (director) from CDEC Rosemont to discuss about space and funding. Francois' analysis lead to something near 15K sq.feet of space and 1M$ to cover only the equipment and the rent for one year for all the groups in the open cluster.1M$ may seem a lot, but in fact this is a very conservative and even a timid estimate. This similar Australian project got 3M$ to start, which is still a small amount compared to other places like Barcelona and Berlin. In fact, every major city in the world either has a place like that or badly wants one.I would like us to understand that what we propose is cutting edge and doesn't even exist yet. SENSORICA and its OVN model is already recognized by those who designed and built the fab labs of the world as being the next thing. I want Quebec/Montreal to realize that we don't need to do catch up. Investing in our project actually means maintaining the lead.During the past few weeks we discussed with different organizations like Innovitech, Genome Canada, National Bank, and others, about SENSORICA, the OVN model and our VIE project. Open innovation is hot and "open source" is now up in the air in a few consortia we interacted with. Platforms for collaboration and co-creation are needed. A value accounting system and metrics to evaluate network/business ecosystem performance are the new holy grail. In short, our project and especially the open cluster shows a lot of potential. This is the reason why we invited everyone this Friday to discuss the funding strategy.The CDEC Rosemont allocates almost a full time job to the VIE project. They were in charge of negotiations for the building on Park ave. (see pics) which turned out to be too expensive. They visited the other location with us (see announcement) and they continue searching. In parallel to our efforts (the open cluster) the CDEC is also organizing a network of small companies that have a culture of sharing and collaboration to compose the other side of VIE. But the CDEC Rosemont falls short of putting skin in the game. No funding has been promised yet, not even a few thousands to rent another room at CTS, and they continue to be very elusive when it comes to other sources of funding that were mentioned at the beginning of the project.I see in CDEC Rosemont a great partner. After spending time with Genevieve and Jean Francois, I believe that they share the same desire. In my opinion, the CDEC Rosemont would love to see the open cluster (SENSORICA, other OVNs or open and informal groups) succeed, because this would be a great victory for them too. But they perceive the OVN model a bit too risky and they still don't know how to deal with it. After their problems with the CTS they can't afford VIE to fail and they can't really cheer wholeheartedly for the open cluster.Let's face it, SENSORICA and its OVN model are new, unconventional, very poorly understood, not fully tested, with no metrics for evaluation and projections, no clear governance yet, a special legal structure... Yes, some academics like Mai and Soumaya support us, but that's not enough to expect Jean Francois Lalonde to take our cause and run the streets with it. The CDEC's reservations are well-understood and well-justified, in my opinion. They can't take this risk yet. So how can we help them?One way to help them is to bring some funding on our own from entities like Genome Canada, National Bank, CRIAQ, MedTech, Loto Quebec, etc. This would give the CDEC someone else to cheer with, because cheering alone is not fun. Some crowdfunding would also help, because in this case our project would be backed by the population, which is in fact the ultimate vote of confidence, because the CDEC's money comes from the same source.Until we bring a few parties to the CDEC to cheer with the CDEC will remain elusive on funding and will stay focused on "plan B", which is to boost the other side of VIE, i.e. the rent paying and equipment use paying cluster of small companies, which will at least guarantee the rent, will at least make the place survive. Moreover, the CDEC will want to control the governance of VIE, in case the open cluster doesn't perform economically they can squeeze more of these small companies in to pay the bills. Again, in my opinion, the CDEC wants the open cluster to succeed, because that would be a hell of a good story for them too, but they can't afford VIE to close its doors 2 years later because we can't pay the rent.My position has always been that we should find enough money for at least one year of rent for everyone in the open cluster, and for all the equipment needed to start. In fact, the use of space and equipment would not be free. Those in the open cluster would pay in equity, which means that if their projects reach the market they will redirect a % of revenue to the infrastructure. This % would be calculated using the value accounting system. Classical companies would pay cash for use.My friends, the ball is still in our court. The hardest thing is to find the first buyer.--On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 9:21 AM, Michel Bauwens <michel@p2pfoundation.net> wrote:
dear all,pursuant to my stated plan in fb to develop a p2p-based community in vilcapamba in cooperation with Norie huddle (and richard wheeler) of the vilcapamba garden of paradiseNorie, perhaps you can send a summary of your ideas for the four lots ?I am thinking that the best legal structure, would be a communitly land trust, coupled with a few action coops and linked to a 'infrastructural commons' a la dmytri kleinerwe're going to need legal help for his, carolina/josef, do you know anyone in ecuador?vasilis/george, obviously we're thinking of cooperation agreements with the p2p labs in greece,Tib: what is the status of your eco-lab in montreal ?Michel<<dear friends, you will hear more from this ... I am returning from the Garden of Paradise, near Vilcabamba, the valley of long life in Loja province, Ecaudor ... I have seen the future of the physicalisation of the peer foundation, at least one form of it. I met Norie Hurdle and her partner Richard Wheeler. The place is magic and full of potential. So, I have been thinking about the creation of a p2p eco-lab to test open sustainable technologies, to do seminars, retreats, publishing and multimedia activities. It will probably start with me going there for three months in the spring each year.P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
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Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
t!b!co-founder of SENSORICA,an open, decentralized and self-organizingvalue network (an open enterprise)founder of Multitude ProjectFacebook Tiberius BrastaviceanuTwitter @TiberiusB--
t!b!co-founder of SENSORICA,an open, decentralized and self-organizingvalue network (an open enterprise)founder of Multitude ProjectFacebook Tiberius BrastaviceanuTwitter @TiberiusB