How can Government support the growth of tech co-operatives

Co-ops
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Hi everyone,

Nice to be in touch. I am Daniel, Policy Officer at the Co-operative Party. We are currently holding a consultation on the ‘Future Co-operative Economy’ which we will be presenting to policymakers later in the year.

Tech and platform co-ops are an important part of this consultation and I wanted to ask for sector workers directly how you believe the Government - both nationally and regionally - should aim to support tech co-ops and their growth?

Please do reply any thoughts you have - whether its access to finance, specific business support, etc.

Many thanks,
Daniel

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Hello Daniel.

I think it’s a great idea to talk directly to people in the field, and I appreciate the move.

I’m not an expert and I’m not from the UK, but here is what I think can be done in very general terms and can be applied anywhere:

  1. Streamline the process to start a co-op. It should be easier and more accessible than starting a private company.
    1.a) Create a clear path and incentives to transform private companies into co-ops
  2. Facilitate co-ops’ funding access by incentivizing banks (especially credit unions) and providing more coop grants.
  3. Recognise co-ops on a government level by prioritising them as contractors for all the government projects
    3.a) Incentivise other companies to choose co-ops for their contracts.

I did a quick analysis of the current landscape in the UK using ChatGPT, but I would be glad to hear if there is more progress on this matter.

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We would like to see the state supporting co-ops to bid for public sector work.

Secondly, more state funded software projects that co-ops can be involved in. There’s a few embryonic examples but it could be a really fruitful area of collaboration:

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