After reading an excellent article by Brad Reed on Network World (this seems to be the online version: Co-working: the ultimate in teleworking flexibility), I finally got motivated enough to do some more research about this phenomenum in the two places of interest to me (Austria and Australia) as well as write a quick entry about this.
The whole co-working concept has been interesting me ever since it started, but the organisational issues associated with starting such a venture (and as with everything else – a lack of time) have always prevented any serious attempt to actually move in this direction. But after reading some of the examples in the above mentioned article and doing some further research I am starting to warm to the idea again.
Some interesting case studies
Activity in Australia
After some quick online research there appears to be some activity also in Australia although things seem to be still very much in their infancy. Most of the activity seems to be happening in Canberra, Perth, Syndey and Melbourne (in order of ‘online’ activity). Andy Howard in Sydney has an interesting post on his site and fellow software developers describes the situation in Perth and Canberra. It seems (not surprisingly) that most people interested in co-working are in ICT related industries.
Unfortunately so far I have not seen any activity in South Australia. I would have a few locations in mind in the Adelaide CBD (as I have rented there before in a previous life), however I don’t have the capacity to take on the administrative effort at this stage. If anybody in the vicinity of Adelaide (South Australia) is interested in pooling
some resources to get a similar project off the ground please just us the contact section of this site or leave a comment.
The rather unfortunate thing (compared to Europe) is that co-working does not even seem to be on the radar for any Government (or semi-Goverment) Agency involved in the provision of support to emerging businesses. I have recently visited a coworking space in Austria sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce (Wirtschaftskammer) and I found it a rather good investment of funds seeing the activit and buzz around the place.
