Economia Social i Solidària

Also available on video here

The 2nd La Febrerada Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) Conference and Party took place in Barcelona on 2 February, organised by Barcelona City Council as part of its #ESSBCN2030 strategy. Bloc4BCN hosted the morning conference, which included a series of talks on the challenges of technological change, drawing more than 160 people from the SSE sector.

Welcome – The La Febrerada conference began with a welcome to the participants gathered at Bloc4BCN. This new cooperative space, according to Guillem Llorens Gragera, President of the Social Economy Association of Catalonia (AESCAT), the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia and the Federation of Workers’ Cooperatives of Catalonia, “is a public facility managed by the cooperative world as a result of collective work”.

Echoing these sentiments, Raquel Gil Eiroá, Councillor for Economic Promotion and Employment, emphasised that Bloc4BCN is the result of collective work and synergies, and stressed the importance of continuing to strengthen and showcase the achievements of the SSE: “The city of Barcelona is mature enough and has grown to face all the challenges of the economic sectors; this new facility is also a testament to the current moment of growth and prosperity.”

The La Febrerada conference provided an opportunity for reflection and inspiration around technological innovation, the digital strategy of projects and new platforms. In this spirit, Ester Vidal Pujol-Xicoy, Director of Social and Solidarity Economy Services and Sustainable Food of Barcelona City Council, spoke about the importance of the event as a strategic meeting point on digitalisation, highlighting the challenges and reflecting on how to integrate this process without forfeiting the fundamental values of the SSE. She also underlined the need to “create a common roadmap to determine what resources we have and what we need to move forward in the technological field”.

Part 1 – Discussion: Digital transformation, technology and SSE: Are we up to the challenge?

The event’s moderator, Álvaro Porro (Director of Social Economy and Cooperatives at Barcelona Activa), explained how the event would be structured, with three parts focusing on the practical approach of SSE organisations to digitalisation.

The first part featured several experts, such as Mar Galtés, Director of Business Development at TechBCN, who highlighted the concern for digitalisation in both small and large companies, not only in the social and solidarity economy, and stressed the importance of not falling behind. She also stressed that Spain has a very high level of digitalisation in terms of infrastructure, but that “the impact of these tools on the way we live and work is not always homogeneous or equitable, and they need to be more widely implemented”.

Speaking along the same lines, the coordinator of the M4Social project at the Catalan Round Table of Third Social Sector Organisations, Gerard Sentís, underlined the challenges of digitalisation for third sector organisations: “The supposed digital transition, which is in fact a permanent change, has a greater impact on the most vulnerable groups. Therefore, our first challenge is to identify how third sector organisations can support users so that they are not left behind. In addition, public administration services are increasingly using digital means, so we need to prevent vulnerable groups from being completely left out”. According to Gerard Sentís, this is why organisations “need to include digital innovation spending in their budgets to reflect this digital change. We have a duty to train staff, managers and technicians for better data management and a more innovative culture”.

Jaume Oller, representative of the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia, CoopCat, also pointed out two important challenges related to digitalisation. “The first is that, through the social and solidarity economy and the cooperative movement, we’ve shown that there’s another way of doing business, and now we need to show that there’s also another way of doing technological business. Another element or challenge is not to be slaves to technology, because when we put technology in companies or organisations, people often end up serving it, and we need to understand that it is meant to help us sell more, be more efficient and reach more people,” he said.

Part 2 – Cooperative case studies (Suara Cooperativa, FACTO, Arç Cooperativa, Fil a l’Agulla and Fundació Formació i Treball)

The importance of technology as a tool to reach more people and improve efficiency is also a fundamental concept, as expressed by Bàrbara Outeiro, Head of Open Innovation at Suara Cooperativa. In her presentation, she explained how she uses the Living Lab method to identify real needs and create pilot projects through start-ups, thereby driving innovation and tackling social challenges effectively.

One of these social challenges was identified by the cooperative FACTO, which created Up me Up, a job and talent search application within the SSE. Meritxell Naranjo, Communication and Marketing Manager at FACTO, explained that “we mustn’t become slaves to technology, but rather ensure that it serves us. For us, the app is a tool to reach out to the general public and share our way of understanding the world”. Naranjo also acknowledged the challenges of adopting a technological mindset and stressed the need for training and experience within the SSE ecosystem.

Arç Cooperativa, an insurance brokerage and consultancy firm, has chosen to use technologies that respect its social and environmental values in order to create its own digital culture, as explained by the Head of Development, Isabel Rodríguez. She said: “This is a path we have been on for a long time, starting with a comprehensive insurance management system, including the use of CRM, remote working and cloud tools. We can see that we’ve come a long way, but there are many challenges ahead. For example, artificial intelligence (AI), which can do jobs that were inconceivable to us before now. The challenge will be how to use this AI in a way that is consistent with our values, without destroying jobs.”

For Fil a l’Agulla, the goal is to rethink processes and adapt to new technologies in order to improve efficiency and take better care of its teams. Director Neus Andreu said: “We’re very concerned about care; we’re very concerned about stress, so we’ve seen technology as a lifeline. We’ve had to reflect and look for better ways to run our processes and manage our teams, because we’re not robots. Technology sometimes seems to be dehumanising, but if you use it well, I think the opposite is true, that it helps you to take better care of the project, the teams and the people you work for.”

At the end of Part 2, the issue of cybersecurity was also raised, and it was noted that two out of three organisations do not spend a single penny on it. “There is an urgent need to allocate resources to this issue,” said Gerard Sentís. Paula Veciana, Director of Corporate Services, Strategy, and Innovation, Training and Employment, spoke on the importance of taking preventive measures against IT attacks, which “can’t always be avoided, but what organisations must do is recover as quickly as possible: have a good backup policy, allocate resources to keep software up to date, and train in cybersecurity to avoid pitfalls and protect organisations.”

Part 3 – SSE technology service providers

“Although there are few of them, there is a positive outlook on the progress made so far and the growing presence of technology providers in the social and solidarity economy,” said Eric Rial, IT Project Manager at Kedu Cooperativa. There are three main areas of technological need within organisations: the platform, the importance of automating processes to improve efficiency and the integrity of information. He also acknowledged the importance of collaboration between cooperative sector institutions and the SSE to share knowledge and resources and to improve the attractiveness of the sector for technological profiles.

Anna Villa, Head of Partner Organisation Services at Sinergia TIC, argued that “SSE organisations are maturing in terms of technology, but they need support and services to understand it. They need technological empowerment”.

For his part, Joan Caballero, Coordinator of Som IT Cooperatiu and Som Connexió, stressed the need for a balanced team of “young professionals with new energy and values and experienced professionals with knowledge of the business”.

Top five audience contributions

At the end of the event, Álvaro Porro turned the microphone over to the audience so that they could share their questions or comments. Below is a summary of what was said:

1. There was no mention of technological sovereignty: A member of the audience criticised the fact that technological sovereignty had not been mentioned in the discussions on technology within the social and solidarity economy, despite being a key issue in relation to dependence on multinational technology companies.
2. Looking to the future: One contributor highlighted the importance of looking ahead, particularly to 2040, to anticipate and prepare for technological and environmental change. Another noted that there is already a solid foundation in some areas, but underlined the need to continue innovating and adapting to new challenges.
3. A variety of fronts: A participant explained that the cooperatives work on a variety of fronts beyond technology, which include areas such as consumption, the development of ethical technological services and event management.
4. Reflection on technology platforms: A call was made to rethink technology platforms and not to limit ourselves to using those that already exist, but to build new ones from an SSE perspective. The need to develop platforms that are ethical, sustainable and do not contribute to the exploitation of people or resources was also highlighted.
5. Awareness of the social and environmental impact of technology: An audience member stressed the importance of considering the social and environmental ramifications of technology, such as the use of material and energy resources, and its potential impacts on health and social justice. There was a call to create a social market for technology that takes these dimensions into account.

The La Febrerada party took place later that evening at Paral·lel 62, a landmark cultural establishment in Barcelona, owned by the municipality and managed by a group of two cooperatives who won the competitive tender. The podcast “Against the Utopia of the Multinational” was recorded there, hosted by Anna Pacheco and featuring guest projects Mensakas, Ruderal, Mescladís, La Carbonera and Proyecto Una (available on Radio Primavera Sound,Spotify and YouTube). The La Febrerada party continued into the night with a full house dancing to the beats of Guineu, Tribade, Mercabanda and DJ Trapella.

La Febrerada is part of the City Agreement for the Social and Solidarity Economy Strategy in Barcelona 2030, which is the result of joint work and commitment by Barcelona’s SSE sector and residents and the city’s SSE policies. This agreement was made possible by the joint work of 203 people and 147 SSE organisations, who produced over 500 proposals, and is co-led and co-implemented by AESCAT and Barcelona City Council.