OuiShare

OuiShare
Name	OuiShare
Formation	2012
Founders	Nicolas Colin; Jeremy Rifkin (associate concepts)
Type	Nonprofit network
Headquarters	Paris, France
Region served	Global

OuiShare OuiShare is a Paris-originated international network that convenes practitioners, entrepreneurs, researchers, and policymakers around collaborative economy, peer production, and social innovation. The network brings together activists, academics, startups, and municipal actors to explore alternative urban policy, platform cooperativism, and commons-based approaches. Its work intersects with civic technology, cooperative movements, digital rights, and sustainable urbanism.

History

Founded in the early 2010s, the organization emerged amid debates sparked by the rise of platforms such as Airbnb, Uber, TaskRabbit, Kickstarter, and Facebook. Founders and early contributors included figures associated with Nicolas Colin-led initiatives, thinkers linked to Jeremy Rifkin-style analyses, and actors from European collaborative scenes such as La Ruche Qui Dit Oui! and Mutual Aid-influenced groups. The network expanded through localized chapters inspired by models used by Enspiral, Impact Hub, La Cantine and by cross-pollinating with conferences like LeWeb, Web Summit, and SxSW Interactive. Early projects reflected dialogues with institutions such as OECD, European Commission, and municipal authorities in cities like Paris, Barcelona, and Berlin.

Mission and Activities

The stated mission focuses on researching, prototyping, and advocating for peer-to-peer service models and commons governance informed by precedents including Elinor Ostrom-inspired commons theory, Yochai Benkler's networked commons scholarship, and social innovation frameworks linked to Nesta. Activities include co-creation labs, policy briefs, and practitioner toolkits used by stakeholders from UN-Habitat forums, municipal innovation offices, and cooperative networks. The network publishes reports that dialogue with scholarship from MIT Media Lab, Harvard Kennedy School, and think tanks like Brookings Institution while convening dialogues with actors from Platform Cooperativism Consortium, Fairbnb.coop proponents, and digital rights groups such as Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Organizational Structure

Structured as a federated network, chapters in cities operate semi-autonomously while coordinated by a central hub offering editorial, research, and event services. Governance draws on models used by cooperatives associated with Co-operatives UK and federations similar to European Cultural Foundation, melding volunteer-led working groups with funded project teams. Leadership historically included a board of advisors linking academics from institutions such as Sciences Po, Sorbonne University, and practitioners from startup incubators like Station F and Rocket Internet-adjacent networks. Collaboration frameworks mirror those used by global networks like Ashoka and Skoll Foundation-affiliated initiatives.

Projects and Initiatives

Initiatives have ranged from accelerator-style labs to open-source tool development, informed by precedents like OpenStreetMap, Civic Tech projects, and commons-based peer production experiments. Notable programs include urban labs that prototyped alternative mobility and housing approaches responding to displacement issues seen in San Francisco and London. The network has run capacity-building for platform cooperatives akin to programs by Cooperation Jackson supporters and has produced policy recommendations referenced in dialogues with European Parliament committees and municipal bodies in Lisbon and Groningen.

Events and Community

The community convenes through international summits, localized meetups, and hackathon-style sprints modeled after events such as Civic Tech Festival, Open Data Day, and Make Zurich-type workshops. Annual gatherings attracted speakers and participants associated with P2P Foundation, Shareable magazine contributors, researchers from University College London and Goldsmiths, University of London, and entrepreneurs incubated at Impact Hub locations. Chapters have fostered collaborations with artist-activists from initiatives resembling Theaster Gates-style urban interventions and academics who publish in journals linked to MIT Press.

Funding and Partnerships

Funding sources have combined membership fees, philanthropic grants, commissioned research from public bodies, and corporate sponsorships. Partners have included foundations and institutions that also support social innovation, such as Fondation de France, Ashoka, Rockefeller Foundation-affiliated programs, and municipal innovation units in Paris and Barcelona. Collaborative research projects were undertaken with universities and policy organizations including CNRS, INRIA, and European funding mechanisms such as the Horizon 2020 program.

Criticism and Controversies

Critics have argued the network at times straddled tensions between grassroots commons advocacy and sponsorship ties to incumbent platform actors, echoing debates seen in critiques of sharing economy commercialization and co-optation episodes involving Airbnb and Uber. Questions were raised about inclusivity, scalability, and the balance between theory and practice, with commentators from activist collectives and scholars at Goldsmiths and Centre for Contemporary Culture-adjacent critiques highlighting possible mission drift. Internal disputes within chapters mirrored broader sectoral tensions around fundraising models and partnerships similar to debates in networks like Impact Hub.

Category:Nonprofit organisations based in France