OuiShare Fest 2014: For Those Who Believe In Sharing!

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The sharing economy is booming. Or should we call it the collaborative economy? But why do we call it an economy after all? Isn’t just five years not a little bit young for something to be called an economy? Well all these kind of questions and off course many more where asked during OuiShare Fest 2014 in the beautiful city of Paris, France. Unfortunately my conference started at day two because I attended the GCUC (biggest coworking conference in USA) Conference in Kansas City as well. With that in mind you have to believe me if I tell you that the vibrant sphere during this conference was amazing. After entering a real circus (Cabaret Sauvage) you could literally drown yourself into all the sharing initiatives.

A little bit of dutch flavor was off course mixed into this conference. The guys and girls of ShareNL, Peerby, erisgenoeg.nl, Amsterdam Economic Board of Innovation, Snappcar, CrowdExpedition and Croqqer where attending as well. Interesting part of the conference was definitely that apparently you should be attending an conference in Paris before noticing that all of us had more in common than we initially thought. Some cool ideas arised during and after the conference so make sure you keep following all of us.

We heard pretty soon that Rachel Botsman was the highlight of day one off course together with ‘Mister Sharing’ Neal Gorenflo from shareable.net. So day two. The program of the OuiShare Fest was co-created with their community. Based on over 150 submissions they created an program that was worth visiting but also a bit chaordic. Food and drinks where perfectly arranged so nothing to complain on that part. We attended OuiShare awards pitch sessions and it was really cool what kind of different things where pitched. One of my favorites ideas (Lock8) was also presenting so that was a nice surprise. After this we learned how cities should behave in this new collaborative economy. Off course cities will become more important than countries in the future, but how? Vicent Guallart (Chief Architect, City of Barcelona) sketched a city seen from the sky. And yes, if you are in an airplane during night the only thing you see is cities bursting in light and the borders of countries are not noticeable at all. After him Neal Gorenflo (Founder and Chief Editor of Shareable.net) showed us how Shareable is building a network of sharing cities. He started with telling that the United States or one of the riches countries but in the same time one of the most poorest as well. Basically his message was that it is time for change and shareable is definitely the platform who can bring that change. Last but not least April Rinne (Sharing Economy Advisory Board, City of Seoul, South Korea) gave us more insight in her vision on urban planning and sustainable growth. In the panel session afterwards Carlien Roodink (Amsterdam Economic Board) gave the listeners more insight in the sharing activities and struggles of the city of Amsterdam

Thanks to Neal we subscribed ourselves for THE afterparty of OuiShareFest 2014. Announced as “After OuiShare Fest” at BlaBlaCar (rooftop with awesome view) we were off course looking forward. What we didn’t know at that moment was that almost everybody we spoke was attending as well. So together with Nils, Harmen, Pieter, Carolien and David. (So basically the heart of sharing Netherlands) we went to this amazing rooftop. BlaBlacar did what they promised. We got real champagne on one of the most impressive rooftops of Paris.

Day three was my most serendipitous day. I met all kind of interesting people and contributed to a session myself as well. At 16:00 I expected that everybody was or leaving or drinking beer but a suprisingly 100+ people where attending ‘New Perspective for Coworking‘. For me the ultimate moment to pitch the Serendipity Machine. We launched this Real Time and place-based platform at exactly the right moment. Everybody we spoke was enthusiastic so we can together with them make this the successtory it deserves. In my session spoke Aassia Haroon Haq as well. She convinced us that The way work – and business gets done is changing forever. Everyone’s an #entrepreneur and before we know it, 1 in 2 of us will be self-employed. Jobs will be a thing of the past. In this world, ideas are the most powerful engine and collaboration is the currency of success. I can not agree more here!

Curious what happend more on OuishareFest 2014? Check out the #OSfest14 or check out the video’s of Martijn Arets for CrowdExpedition. He started his first video with the best conclusion of this OuiShare Fest. If somebody drops a bomb on the Cabaret Sauvage at this moment the complete sharing economy is gone. That said, we see that a lot of believers are sharing there stories with other believers. So now it’s time to spread it with the rest of the world!

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