Domain I — Co-operatives
Ownership, governance, and the distribution of value.
Who owns the tools that shape modern life? Who benefits when work is automated? Who has a voice in the decisions that quietly reorder our economies? Co-operative governance is one of the most considered answers we have.
Why now
Ownership is a systems-change question.
The last two decades have concentrated ownership of digital infrastructure — and increasingly of intelligence itself — in a small number of firms. That concentration is not a technical inevitability. It is the outcome of choices about capital, incentives, and law.
Co-operatives are a mature, tested alternative: enterprises owned by the people who work in them, use them, or depend on them. In an era where value is generated collectively and captured privately, that pattern deserves renewed attention.
What co-operatives offer
Practices we can build on.
Democratic governance
One member, one voice. Decisions made with the people they affect, not for them.
Shared value
Value created together is returned to members, communities, and long-term stewardship — not extracted to distant shareholders.
Long-term horizons
Co-operative structures reduce pressure toward short-term extraction and reward patient, place-rooted enterprise.
Platform co-operatives
Digital tools owned and governed by their users — a real alternative to platform capitalism.
Governance patterns
Four tested forms — with room for new hybrids to emerge.
- 01
Worker co-op
Owned and governed by the people who work in it.
- 02
Consumer co-op
Owned by the people who buy from or use it.
- 03
Multi-stakeholder
Shared governance across workers, users, and community.
- 04
Platform co-op
Digital tools owned by the users and workers they serve.
Questions we are exploring
What does co-operation look like in the age of intelligent systems?
- 01
How can co-operative principles inform the design and governance of AI systems?
- 02
What role can platform co-operatives play in rebalancing digital power?
- 03
How do we build governance capable of holding complexity without collapsing into hierarchy?
- 04
What does fair distribution of automation's gains actually look like?
- 05
How do we support co-operative formation at the speed the moment demands?
- 06
Where can co-operative and regenerative practice reinforce one another?
Related resources
Organisations shaping this field
Co-operatives UK
The national network for the UK co-operative movement — practical support, advocacy, and shared governance thinking.
International Cooperative Alliance
Global voice for co-operatives — stewarding co-operative principles, values, and cross-border collaboration.
Platform Cooperativism Consortium
Research and community focused on platform co-operatives — democratic alternatives to extractive digital platforms.
Sit with these questions alongside co-operative practitioners.
The network is a place to work through governance, ownership, and shared-value questions with people doing the work.