Monday, September 24, 2018
On the 21st of April the seminar on relational economics took place in cooperation with Kompassi, our associate partner in Finland. The seminar was mainly focusing on cooperative kinds of entrepreneurship and was open to all citizens and many related organizations such as small cooperatives, university students’ and new startups. It happened to be the first warm Saturday of the spring, and many went to their summer cottages but nevertheless a few also attended the seminar and another 1000 followed it through web-stream, which was a good result. The seminar was opened by MP Mr. Antero Laukkanen. We were happy that the leader of the cooperatives movement in Finland, Mr. Sami Karhu, gave a lecture. The lectures Jouko Jääskeläinen, Juhani Laurinkari and Arto Lahti were also of great value and contributed in shaping a better understanding of relational economy and the practical possibilities to strengthen its various forms. All lectures were finally edited into a book of 128 pages titled: “ Puheenvuoroja Yhteisötaloudesta”. Translates best as: “Discourses on Communal Economics”. 2000 copies of the book were printed already and will be distributed free of charge mostly during this fall, winter and the beginning of 2019. The seminar gave birth to a new kind of cooperation between Kompassi, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Finnish Cooperative Centre Pellervo. This second seminar took place on September 18 and was also well attended. Doctor Sami Karhu’s opening speech was followed by lectures of doctors Jouko Jääskeläinen, Arto Lahti, Juhani Laurinkari and Esa Erävalo. Dr. Jouko Jääskeläinen’s lecture was related to the philosophical foundations of communal economy. Professor Juhani Laurinkari’s lecture zoomed in on cooperatives and professor Arto Lahti on micro and small enterprises. During the next joint event there will be a foreign speaker in cooperation with Sallux on relational economy and a fifth speaker from the SME’s organization on the new possibilities for production offered by new technology and/or forms of relational economy like Uber, renting private apartments for tourists, crowd funding, arranging open air flea markets or local restaurants etc.