The Policy Lab would develop a process to map, analyse and make recommendations around the three lines of enquiry.
The following outline proposal builds from the work published by the Greater Manchester Co-operative Commission, published in January of 2020.
This Policy Lab will examine the following lines of enquiry:
1. Why are co-operatives different from other businesses?
2. What is the value of co-operatives and co-operative ways of working?
3. How can we go about fostering the right environment for co-operatives to thrive?
We will explore these lines of enquiry across the following dimensions:
• Place – district, neighbourhood and community
• Sector – with a focus on development of the foundational economy
• Time – taking action now to enable strategic development in the future
The Policy Lab would develop a process that others could follow to map, analyse and make recommendations around the three lines of enquiry and how to expand co-op activity into whichever of these sectors are most relevant for any geographic area. This would involve the identification of several case study co-operative businesses and initiatives through which to explore the development of a co-operative economy, which would include comparisons between sectors (for example; digital tech and creative arts) and learning from failure as well as success. The Policy Lab would be led by Greater Manchester Combined Authority and a Steering Group which would include Oldham, Rochdale and Wigan Councils (we would also invite other GM authorities to participate, including Salford and Tameside).
