PRESS RELEASE
14th December 2020
Coopathon 3.0: Decoding from {I} to {We}
International Cooperative Alliance Asia and Pacific organised the third edition of Coopathon – a Cooperative Hackathon from 11th December (Friday) to 14th December (Monday), on a virtual platform, Airmeet. This is the first time a cooperative hackathon was organised as a fully online event and for an international audience. Coopathon 3.0 aimed to identify and solve contemporary problems and pressing challenges in the social and service sectors through an amalgamation of youth energy, technology integrations, and cooperative values & principles.
Coopathon 3.0 also brings a diverse pool of partners and mentors to provide pre, during, and post-event support, mentorship, and industry-connect for the participants to develop successful solutions.
It was organized with the support of nine partner organisations from six countries, which are: The India Farmer Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), TinkerHub Foundation, The Malaysian National Cooperative Movement (ANGKASA), Indonesian Consortium for Cooperatives Innovation (ICCI), Indonesian Cooperative Management Institute (IKOPIN), Incubator.coop, KODI, Mondragon Team Academy, Korea, and Travelling University, China. It featured 13 mentors from nine countries (Australia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Spain, and the USA) bringing onboard experience from diverse fields to add value to the prototype-building process.
In his welcome address, Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP, highlighted the key components of Coopathon 3.0 – the youth, technology, and the transition from “I” to “We”.
The keynote speaker for the inauguration ceremony was Mr. Sundeep Kumar Nayak, Managing Director, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). He said, NCDC is championing start-up cooperatives among youth, pioneering support for health cooperatives, and forming new cooperatives in line with government’s vision to double farmers income. He was also keen to support the successful India-based projects emerging out of Coopathon 3.0.
It received over 80+ entries from 12 countries – Australia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Out of these, 41 teams were shortlisted to participate in the 72-hour coopathon. These teams worked rigorously for 72 hours, undertook training sessions, were supported by their mentors, and made their final submissions on the evening of 13th December 2020 (Sunday).
With amazing response from the participants, 10 teams were selected as the finalists for the live pitch in front of our highly experienced and illustrious judging panel - Ms. Amaia García Fernández, Co-Leader Mondragon Team Academy, China & Asia; Mr. Jack Sim, Founder, Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) Hub, Restroom Association of Singapore, the World Toilet Organization, and the World Toilet Day initiative; and Mr. Tarun Bhargava, Chairperson International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Think Tank and Joint General Manager, IFFCO. The live pitches and the closing ceremony took place on 14th December 2020 (Monday).
Mr. Rully Indrawan, Secretary to The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, The Republic of Indonesia, in his keynote speech, appreciated the host organization to have successfully conducted Coopathon 3.0 virtually amidst the COVID 19 pandemic. He also expressed his happiness to see large participation from Indonesia. He said, “For cooperatives, it is easy to build a legal entity with only nine people in Indonesia, so we believe that it gives a great opportunity for young people and millennials to choose a cooperative structure for their creative and innovative works.”
Mr. Jack, in his very encouraging and inspiring remarks, saying “If you want to dream, dream big; solve big problems by thinking big; when you think big, you can’t do it all yourself and have to bring other people with you as this is the cooperative spirit. In cooperatives, the true billionaire is the one who improves the lives of a billion people”.
Ms. Amaia was very delighted with the ideas presented by the finalists and appreciated them for their passion and sensitivity towards the problems. She encouraged them and said, “when you are solving a big problem, your business model or solution might not be very firmed up in the beginning but do not lose hope and do not kill the idea so soon, instead reach out help and make it happen”. She also made a point to highlight that cooperatives connected to technology are the future.
All the finalists made a presentation and answered questions from the judges and were evaluated based on their live presentations, technology relevance, and cooperative/ collective models. Inno Games Coop, Indonesia; MYCOON, India; and Design for Impact, India were declared as the first, second, and third winners, respectively. Inno Games Coop from Indonesia is working to create an online coop ecosystem by producing digital products like games. The model enables anyone with digital and creative skills to join the platform, learn new courses, find teammates, collaborate, and earn.
MYCOON from India has an innovative model that grows biomaterials using agriculture residues and mycelium. Their model creates employment opportunities for the local youth by employing them in the production process.
Design for Impact, from India, has developed a concept of Learn, Earn, and Invest where people join their platform to learn new skills, utilise those skills to earn through gigs, and invest a proportion of their income in learning further.
These winners be awarded three prizes (US $3,000, US $2,000, and US $1,500). The first and second prizes are being sponsored by IFFCO and the third prize by the ICA Domus Trust.
Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP, in his valedictory address, said that for him Coopathon has meant addressing issues of today by leveraging technology, engaging youth, and using cooperatives as a vehicle. He was very impressed seeing all the presentations by the teams which have incorporated these elements. He also said that ICA-AP is keen to support these ideas as the real impact of Coopathon 3.0 will be to see these ideas being implemented and make a difference. He thanked Mr. Rully, the keynote speaker and acknowledged the need to expand and create an enabling environment for cooperatives by engaging with different stakeholder to nurture such innovative ideas. He also thanked the judges, the mentors, the partners, prize sponsors, SPOCs, and the organizing team. Concluding his address, he reinstated the importance of following up and be engaged with the Coopathon community that we have formed.
The Opening Ceremony can be watched on here.
The Closing Ceremony can be watched on here.
For more information, please contact
- Ms. Shivali Sarna (Shivali.sarna@icaap.coop), Communication and Membership Development Officer, ICA-AP
- Mr. Ganesh Gopal (ganesh.gopal@icaap.coop), Programme Officer, ICA-AP
