Building the Rails for Inclusive Economies
A full day gathering at Norrsken Barcelona for founders, operators, researchers, policymakers, technologists, capital allocators, and institutional builders rethinking how ownership works across sectors. Day 2 of the 3 day ECOSYSTEM Summit.
Barcelona as a working room for Europe's ownership economy
The day is designed to connect people building steward ownership, federated infrastructure, cooperative finance, patient-governed systems, community energy, digital commons, industrial democracy, and housing commons across Europe. The point is not simply to compare models. It is to identify what governance patterns travel, what institutional designs hold up, and what should get built next.
Look beyond the exit
From steward ownership to employee ownership, the event focuses on how control, succession, and accountability can be redesigned for the long term.
Study the infrastructures underneath
Health data, industrial data spaces, payment rails, and digital commons are treated as the operating infrastructure that makes shared ownership work in practice.
Build relationships that continue after the day
With lunch at Skapa Restaurant, two networking breaks, focused breakouts, a closing case study, and a rooftop reception, the format is built for collaboration rather than passive attendance.
Reworked for Norrsken Barcelona
Townhall hosts the plenaries, the opening talk, and the closing Bridge to Parley case study. Earthshot hosts the scheduled breakouts. Red Room is the dedicated networking hub for both morning and afternoon breaks, with spillover into Norrsken common areas as needed. Marenostrum and Speakeasy remain available for side meetings, speaker prep, or small conversations as needed.
Townhall, capacity 150
The full-room plenaries, opening talk, bridge case study, and highest-demand cross-sector conversations live here.
Earthshot, Red Room, and side rooms
Earthshot hosts the scheduled breakout sessions. Red Room is the networking lounge. Marenostrum and Speakeasy can be used for side meetings, speaker prep, or small conversations as needed.
Agenda at a glance
Each session block below carries its own description and draft invited / target speaker slate. The day now opens with a brief framing talk and a full-room plenary on AI, labor markets, and policy solutions, and closes with a trade-data case study before the rooftop reception.
Opening talk: ownership, coordination, and Europe's next institutional stack
A 15-minute scene-setting talk to frame the day: why ownership design matters now, where Europe is already leading, and what questions the rest of the program is meant to answer.
AI, labor markets, and policy solutions
A shared opening conversation on how AI is likely to reshape wages, bargaining power, productivity, job quality, and market concentration-and which European policy responses could turn that transition toward better work and broader prosperity.
- Jan Eeckhout, ICREA Research Professor, Universitat Pompeu Fabra / Barcelona School of Economics
- Lucilla Sioli, Director of the EU AI Office, European Commission
- Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament; Co-Chair, AI Act Working Group
- Antonio Aloisi, Associate Professor of Law, IE University
- Christina Colclough, Founder, The Why Not Lab
Morning networking break
The hosted networking hub for the full group, with spillover into Norrsken common areas to comfortably accommodate 120 attendees.
Purpose after exit
A panel on how founders and institutions preserve mission, redesign control, and separate economic upside from decision rights without freezing the company in place.
Manufacturing 4.0, Federated Data, and the Future of Industry
A conversation about interoperable data spaces, industrial standards, consortium governance, and the shared digital infrastructure reshaping advanced manufacturing.
Federating health without platform capture
A session on care commons, patient-held records, public-interest data infrastructure, and governance approaches that let health systems share data without ceding control to a few dominant platforms.
Lunch at Skapa Restaurant
A shared lunch for the full group, with room for hosted introductions, table conversations, and follow-up meetings off the main stage.
Money as shared infrastructure
How mutual credit, cooperative finance, ethical banking, and new payment rails can be governed as shared systems rather than extractive intermediaries.
Who owns the energy transition?
A focused discussion on citizen utilities, community-owned generation, cooperative energy models, and the local institutions needed for a fairer transition.
Room change and attendee movement
A short buffer to help people move between breakout blocks and reset rooms.
Beyond platforms
A panel on federated systems, shared protocols, member-owned platforms, and other alternatives to centralized platform capture.
- Francesca Bria, Public-interest tech strategist, Francesca Bria
- Leandro Navarro, Professor / guifi.net leader, UPC / guifi.net
- Ricard Espelt, Researcher / cooperative platform scholar, UOC / Dimmons
- Adrien Claude, Federation / ecosystem lead, CoopCycle Federation
- Nick Weir, Co-director / team lead, Open Food Network UK
Industrial democracy at scale
A discussion of employee-owned firms, trusts, worker voice, and the capital and governance structures that support long-term resilience.
Afternoon networking break
Another full 30-minute networking block, with Red Room as the hosted lounge and common-area spillover available.
Housing commons and collective ownership
An urban ownership session on community land models, cooperative housing, non-speculative structures, and how cities can protect long-term access.
- Colin Mayer, Professor, Oxford Saïd / Mutuals research
- Jonathan Michie, Professor / Research centre leader, Oxford Centre on Mutual & Co-owned Business
- Mayo Fuster Morell, Research lead / Professor, UOC / Dimmons
- Carles Baiges, Architect / Co-founder, Lacol
- Tom Chance, Chief Executive, Community Land Trust Network
Bridge to Parley: a case study on the Interoperable Exchange for Trade Data
A closing case study on how interoperable exchange infrastructure for trade data can unlock coordination across firms, sectors, and jurisdictions, and what that implies for Europe's ownership stack.
Reset and head upstairs
A short transition window to wrap conversations in Townhall, make introductions, and move to the Norrsken rooftop for the evening reception.
Reception on the rooftop
A rooftop reception to continue the conversation, reconnect across sessions, and turn promising overlaps into next steps.
Builders across sectors
- Founders and operators redesigning ownership, governance, or institutional structure
- Researchers and academics working on commoning, mutuals, ownership, and long-term firm design
- Investors, foundations, and ecosystem builders exploring non-extractive, mission-preserving capital
- Public, civic, and cooperative leaders focused on resilience, participation, and shared prosperity
Signals, contacts, and next steps
- A sharper view of which governance and ownership patterns travel across sectors
- New relationships across finance, health, energy, housing, manufacturing, and digital systems
- Practical ideas for pilots, collaborations, policy, and capital follow-up
- A working picture of what Barcelona could become as a hub for this conversation
Join the Barcelona gathering
This is a curated day for people actively building new ownership and governance models. The room is intentionally capped and designed for real conversations rather than a passive audience experience.