Yesterday (30.10.2024), the Bundesverband Coworking Spaces Deutschland (BVCS) held its annual #zukunftcoworking conference in KOMED, Cologne. As usual, Cobot was a proud sponsor and participant of Germany’s largest coworking event.
Over 200 coworking professionals gathered to dive deep into coworking’s latest trends, challenges, and opportunities. Here’s a recap of the standout moments, and valuable connections we made:
Meeting the Cobot Community
We were thrilled to see a strong presence of Cobot customers, both among the speakers and attendees. Not only did we meet some old friends and long-term colleagues, we also discussed future partnerships with new German coworking spaces, spoke about exciting integrations with our existing product and touched on potential collaborations with franchising spaces (more on that in a bit).
Tools for Coworking Spaces - A Panel Discussion
Our Laura Tump (Head of Support @ Cobot) participated in a panel discussion featuring Christian Schmitz from Salto and Florian Kappes from technologywithin.
Does the future of coworking lie in digitalization, automation, and integration? Which tools are best for different coworking spaces? These were part of the questions and topics discussed during the panel talk.
Contrary to other sectors, where automation and digitalization threaten to bring potential job losses, we are lucky to work in a very human-centric industry. Although digital products will continue to grow and help operators and owners, they remain tools to reach our most important goals as members of the coworking branch—creating human-centric, collaborative spaces that foster future growth and work satisfaction.
We at Cobot fully believe in this idea and have devoted the last 14 years to creating not only the most accessible and helpful software for independent coworking spaces but also to building a dedicated and supportive team ready to support the coworking industry in its ongoing development.
2024 - Coworking Continues to Innovate
Before the panel discussion, the day started on a sobering note from Tobias Kollewe: Last year, more than 200 spaces had to close down, due to increasing rents and inability to strike market fit.
However, as we have observed many times in the coworking industry, when one door closes, another opens. As each year at #zukunftcoworking we were excited to learn about all the new coworking spaces and their unique business models. Who thought 20 years ago coworking in a church would be a thing? Well, now it is! We are ready to embrace this and other unique coworking business models appearing all around Germany and Europe.
Dr. Maximilian Kutzner (Co-Karl Fulda, Cobot customer) spoke about how he and his team creatively transformed a Kaufhaus into a space, while Priscilla-Georgia Matei from Tink Tank Spaces focused on the community-building aspect of her job. She was very excited and enthusiastic about the role that the coworking community plays in their space and how this impacts her. Being able to say “Hi”, walk around, chat and meet all of your “customers” is a special perk in the coworking industry!
Another great talk by Ellen Kimmel and Christa Hünting founders of KreativQuartier | Coworking- & Meeting-Spacegave us insights on small-town coworking spaces and how to build communities around them.
Some of Cobot’s other valued customers also shared the stage with each other: Sabine from Smart Offices Querfurt, Andreas Hörcher from Finnwaa, and Vicki from ToBe work&care, to name a few.
As always, It was incredibly motivating for us to connect with each of you and hear your insights on the latest in coworking.
Franchising and the Future of Coworking
The afternoon was focused on discussing franchising – a distribution form that becomes increasingly relevant in the coworking sector, as spaces merge and the market consolidates.
After a very in-depth and helpful overview of what franchising is by Alexander Mehnert (vice-president of the Bundesverband coworking), the following panel discussion (by Katja Pfennig, Alexander Mehnert, Claire Meyerratken, and Bernd Rützel) expanded on how franchising can be a chance for coworking spaces to scale while reducing risks and bundling resources and knowledge, similar to other industries.
“Franchising is an opportunity to minimize the entrepreneurial risk for new founders” - Katja Pfennig, IWG Head of Partner Performance
The discussion ended with a hopeful outlook on the potential of the coworking market in general:
The coworking market is poised for strong growth, with new spaces emerging especially in smaller towns. This expansion is driven by people's desire for high-quality workspaces closer to home and flexible work opportunities from employers.
The German Coworking Award
One of the most important messages from the event was: “To support the longevity and prosperity of the coworking sector, we need to be more united and louder than ever.”
Even though Europe and Germany are leading the way in coworking, there are still a lot of hurdles ahead. Hurdles, which we, as one of the most human-centric and future-oriented industries on the planet, will tackle together through support and collaboration. This is why this year’s edition of #zukunftcoworking included a special announcement at the end: Germany’s Annual Coworking Award, hosted and organized by the BVCS. This award will honor the most outstanding and innovative coworking spaces in Germany and present their achievements and concepts to a broad public.
Cobot’s CPO, Kristina Schneider will be joining the jury, which will award a winner on May 15th 2025 in Cobot’s home city of Berlin. We encourage everyone to apply (more info here).
As we reflect on the inspiring moments from #ZukunftCoworking2024, it's clear that the future of coworking is bright. #zukunftcoworking proved its position in supporting spaces on their path to growth, to business success, and reaching the impact in their local economy in order to drive growth and innovation.
Together, we can continue to shape the landscape of coworking, creating spaces that operate successfully, navigate through the complexities of our modern society, and serve their community while inspiring the possibilities of tomorrow.
We can't wait to see you again next year!
If you're considering diving into the coworking world, we invite you to explore Cobot's solutions, empowering spaces worldwide to thrive and innovate.
Until we meet again, let's keep unlocking the potential of coworking, one community at a time.
If you're looking to streamline operations within your coworking community, give Cobot a try. Feel free to contact us or sign up for a demo here and get started today!
