Who we are
Founded in 2015 in Brussels, we are a civil society organization (CSO) dedicated to enabling a more human-centric digital future.
Registered as a nonprofit, our mission is to unlock the power of the cooperative Internet, enabling a more human-centric digital future. Our work focuses on creating frameworks for online ecosystems rooted in collaboration, trust, and equitable governance.
What we do
We rethink online relationships to build a collaborative Web, where digital trust is distributed, and coordination is both vertical and horizontal.
Our approach leverages the concept of data cooperatives—democratic, multi-stakeholder models designed to address the most pressing challenges in data ownership and management. By integrating the small world phenomenon and a network architecture that mimics offline interactions, we aim to create shared data spaces where accountability is maximally distributed and that foster shared insights and strengthen digital communities. This model prioritizes democratic governance, enhancing collective decision-making and shared economic opportunity in the digital economy.
Why we do what we do
Data ownership is at the core of the next technological revolution, and data cooperatives are steering the course.
As the digital landscape shifts from privacy concerns to ownership imperatives, there is a critical need for technologically safe and trustworthy environments. We believe that putting humans—not technologies—at the center of this transformation is key. Data cooperatives uniquely position themselves to close the trust gap, providing not only governance models but also new economic avenues for the communities contributing to the data ecosystem. They are leading the way in creating digitally federated, sovereign architectures that democratize the benefits of the AI-driven economy.
Meet with us
You are welcome to meet with us at these various events.
IGF 2024, Dec 19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
i50y, Dec 3, Virtual
Leaders of Regeneration Summit, Sep 23, New York City, USA
UN SOTF Action Days 2024, Sep 20-21, New York City, USA
SSUNGA79, Sep 10-27, New York City, USA
i50 at The Royal Society, July 15, London, UK
TrustOn 2024, Jun 26-27, Brussels, Belgium
WSIS 2024, May 27-31, Geneva, Switzerland
WEF 2024, Jan 15-19, Davos, Switzerland
The Digital Economist, Dec 14, Virtual
IGF 2023, Oct 8-12, Kyoto, Japan
SSUNGA78 2023, Sep 18 (EEAAO), Sep 22 (PCI), New York City, USA
GFF 2023, March 20-22, New York City, USA
Systems At Play 2023, Feb 15-18, Brussels, Belgium
IGF 2022, Nov 28 - Dec 2, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
MWC 2022, Feb 28 - Mar 3, Barcelona, Spain
ICTeSSH 2021, Jun 28-30, (Online)
EGI 2020, Nov 4, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Online)
Operas 2020, Nov 4, Brussels, Belgium (Online)
Operas-P 2020, Luxembourg, Luxembourg (Online)
DGO 2020, Seoul, South Korea (Online)
Thingscon 2019, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
IGF 2019, Berlin, Germany
FuturICT 2019, Zurich, Switzerland
DigEnlightment 2019, Brussels, Belgium
ESG 2019, Oaxaca, Mexico
NGI Forum 2019, Helsinki, Finland
EU ICT 2019, Helsinki, Finland
DGO 2019, Dubai, UAE
DMRS 2018, Bolzano, Italy
EU ICT 2018, Vienna, Austria
EU ICT 2017, Budapest, Hungary
EU ICT 2016, Bratislava, Slovakia
Buddhist Economics 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
EU ICT 2015, Lisbon, Portugal
CIC 2015, Santa Clara, California