Institute
The Institute for Digital Cooperative Economy (ICDE) conducts cross-disciplinary research about the emerging cooperative digital economy, which is relatively uncharted territory in anthropology, political science, sociology, history, law, and economics. This rapidly expanding field is also inextricably linked to labor and cooperative studies. This work is concerned with finance, entrepreneurship, and organizational studies in business schools. Governance and corporate structure are critical subjects in law schools. The Institute’s mission, in recognition of existing research gaps, is to provide applied and theoretical knowledge, education, and policy analysis.
The ICDE, founded in 2019, runs a fellowship program that welcomes 10 research fellows each year (43 Ph.D. students to date), and works with an extensive group of Affiliate Faculty.
ICDE is the research arm of the The Platform Cooperativism Consortium at The New School, aimed at promoting the principles of cooperative business models within the digital economy. It focuses on the development and support of platform-based businesses that are owned and governed by their workers, users, or members, rather than traditional shareholders. This consortium provides resources, research, and networking opportunities to facilitate the growth of cooperatively owned digital platforms. It seeks to empower workers and users by advocating for equitable, sustainable, and democratic digital work environments. The initiative is part of a broader movement towards platform cooperativism, which aims to harness the power of technology to create more inclusive and socially responsible economic structures. The annual conferences of PCC have reached approximately 290,000 people.
To learn more, visit platform.coop