Festival Micronomics 2009

THEORY

Re-define 9 concepts often used and abused in the economy

Ever since the cooperative and social movements of the 19th Century, many words have been coined to describe economic activities that have other priorities than “making money”. Stijn Oosterlynck (KUL) and Edgar Szoc have defined 9 words and put them in context. With their first attempt to a “subverter’s guide to social economy” they ask if we have to find new words for alternative economic practices, or rather claim back the words that have been taken over by the dominant economic discourse.

Social innovation - Cooperative entrepreneurship – Micro-finance - Corporate social responsibility – Meerwaarde-economie - Social economy – Micro-economy – Micro-initiatives - Economy from below/Economy from above

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TOOLS

Assess services existing and lacking for micro-initiatives

MicroMarché is a marketplace for instantly testing and developing creative ideas in immediate contact with the Brussels audience. A short loop between a lively Brussels sector of young,creative initiatives, Brussels residents and tourists on an inspiring location. Ludo Moyersoen, instigator and inspirator of the MicroMarché investigates platforms like the MicroMarché deal with opportunities and threats of the institutional landscape for micro-initiatives.

GEOGRAPHY

Can micro-initiatives mobilise local resources and contribute to collective action and social innovation

Tim Cassiers (VUB) describes how micro-initiatives emerge in certain part of the city, and on the other hand how certain urban areas contribute to their existence and development. Although convinced about their contribution to local and neighbourhood development, he warns for a localist bias and pleas for a perspective of the impact of micro-initiatives on the city as a whole.

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ACTORS

Map the institutional landscape of micro-initiative

Micro-initiatives and its initiators find themselves in a complex landscape of employment legislation, entrepreneurship and social economy. David Jamar asks which which actors are best placed to support or at least not to hinder micro-initiatives, and Laboratoire Jeune Cinéma provides us with a case.

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CHANGE

Concrete proposals for changing the policy framework

Paul Blondeel looks at platforms of micro-initiatives as places of exchange of knowledge, talent and skill, but sees a threat to their development because funding landscape nor market seem adapted to their characteristic structure. He describes voluntary vs professional and local vs extra-local as big paradoxes authorities need to deal with.

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