Tony Bacigalupo talked to Taylor Tran from Innovation Melbourne.

Innovation

Taking physical action to go out and do something is the key to entrepreneurship and innovation.  People are starting to integrate coworking into the broader ecosystem of innovation as they come up with unique ways of approaching it and the shift in how people work and interact with one another.  This sort of innovation is making coworking more than just a shared workspace. It is being integrated into the improvement of a community. The sheer number of people with a vision for the future is impressive.  They are necessary to trigger any level change.

Coworking

Taylor believes that there is nothing really new about coworking.  All the aspects that are considered to be “coworking” have been going on for a while — renting office space, congregating, building community.  Rather, it is the way in which people are instigating these interactions that is changing. Coworking is a new take on things that have been happening throughout time.

There is a trend for the increase of work flexibility in terms of time and location.  Technology is allowing us to connect in a different way but the fundamentals of building community is the same.  Coworking should be accessible to the common people and cannot be exclusive towards any demographic. It is important to encourage this kind of collaboration and create a space where people can connect with diverse groups.  The 9-to-5 was constructed during a specific economic time. However, it is time to move away from it as we move past the Industrial Age.

Coworking can be used to develop regional areas and create viable economies.  A balanced approach is needed to do this kind of thing. It is necessary to embrace all institutions within a society no matter what you are doing.  Sometimes, it is hard to open up to what are possibly conceived as competitors but there is an opportunity to form some kind of relationship or partnership with such openness.  It is time to get out of the competitor mindset.

The objective of coworking is not really to run a space.  The main objective is to build a community with a clear purpose.  The earlier you get people to that point that better. Some spaces have made the physical things their priority which leaves an empty, opportunistic space that is trying to fill itself with members.