A sunny day welcomed us in Zurich last Tuesday, March 17th, the day the members of the Coworking Switzerland movement got together to talk about founding an association. We were happy to be a guest and excited to learn more about Coworking in Switzerland. For us it was a great chance to get inspirations for Cobot, too, and see how we can support what matters — your community.
The local Impact Hub with its impressive architecture — an old viaduct — was a great venue for the national Swiss Coworking meetup, attended by roughly 25 people. Among them were Jenny Schepper-Uster (Büro Lokal, Wil), Carmen Cepon (project manager of Förderverein Ostsinn), Priscilla Wolf (Urbanfish, Bern), and Xavier Inglin (consultant, formerly Coworking Zug), the initiators of this productive meeting.
There are 49 coworking spaces and places in Switzerland at the moment, and that number is growing quickly, along with interest in coworking or flexible work environments. In particular, companies are changing their work conditions to retain qualified and motivated employees. Still, for most of the Swiss population, coworking is not that familiar yet, which is why all attendees of this meeting agreed that information about the national and international coworking movement should be spread continuously. Herein lies the motivation behind the foundation of a national coworking association. The name has already been chosen: Coworking Switzerland!
We’re excited to see what comes of this idea. Plenty of ideas were collected and much more discussion will have to take place, but the general goal is to create a website where all Swiss spaces will be listed. Coworkers and space managers will be able to get in contact here and see what coworking opportunities are available and what events are taking place in the near future. Marketing measures should follow up later.
The work smart initiative could play a key role here, too. The initiators (Microsoft, SBB, Swisscom, Witzig The Office Company, and the Swiss Post AG as a new partner) have a point on their 2015 agenda to win more companies as partners and discuss known and new forms of flexible working. In this discourse, coworking gains importance as well.
We will keep an eye on the progress and inform you as news comes. We wish the new Coworking Switzerland association the best of success!
Let us all help broaden the coworking movement and enjoy!
Your Cobot-Team
