A mixed model in evolution
The core strength of public authorities lays in their unique means of disseminating information. In France, they have been able to quickly raise public and private actor’s awareness of the benefits of Coworking. Furthermore, they had the real power of connection. Because local authorities have a global view of economic development in their region, they are also able to identify all important stakeholders to get involved in a future Coworking project.
Nevertheless, the 2012 call by La Fonderie was only open to local governments and associations (i.e. business clusters or company federations and associations), and that aspect of the call for projects may be regrettable, since privately run coworking spaces have also contributed to the development of coworking in France.
Also, many local governments have asked for advice from privately run coworking spaces since coworking looked like the perfect solution to vitalize local economies. In this sense private coworking spaces have also contributed to the «general interest» by disseminating good practices. «I wish it could be different. It is important that these projects are launched by entrepreneurs », says Antoine from Mutinerie.
But everything is not black and white. These funds are made up of stimulus financing, which show «a new state of mind of local governments», according to Antoine. These funds help the launching of projects, focusing on essential spending and they also require more responsibilities compared to a more classic system.
It looks like the role of public authorities could be led to evolve into the «role of a curator more than into the role of developer» says Antoine. In this perspective, the goal of local governments would be to identify initiatives that would need support rather than establishing a pure funding program.
::
