Bologna Summer Program for Co-operative Studies The Lessons of Emilia…

Bologna Summer Program for Co-operative Studies
The Lessons of Emilia Romagna
2005-04-30
By John Restakis

Over the last decade, there has grown in North America an awareness
that something unique has taken shape in the economy and society of
Emilia Romagna in north Italy.

For those who have worked in the co-operative movement, whether as
researchers, educators, developers, or practitioners this awareness is
beginning to recast how we understand the nature of co-operatives
economies in the modern world, and how co-operatives and the
operations of the social economy are emerging in a new light for
changing times.

One of the outcomes of the increased exchange that has developed
between this unique region and Canada, in particular the province of
British Columbia, has been the creation of the Bologna Summer
Program for Co-operative Studies.

Now entering its fourth year, the program is a partnership between the
BC Co-operative Association, Vancity Credit Union, and The University
of Bologna to explore the operations and dynamics of co-operative
economies and to apply the lessons of Emilia Romagna to the
economic and social challenges confronting our societies.

In this article, I wish to outline the nature of this program and its
relevance to the work of co-op leaders and practitioners in the co-
operative movement and as actors within the broader social economy.

The Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy has been widely
recognized as one of the world's leading examples of a successful co-
operative economy, with one third of the region's GDP deriving from
co-operative enterprises. With over 15,000 co-operatives in the region,
the use of co-operative systems both in the commercial and civil
sectors has produced what may be considered a living laboratory for
the understanding and application of the co-operative model in a
modern market economy.
In addition, this region of 4 million people has over 400,000
enterprises providing a ratio of one enterprise for every ten residents.
Emilia Romagna and its capital city of Bologna, now produces the
highest GDP per capita, the lowest unemployment rate, the highest
citizen satisfaction, and the highest output in research, innovation, and
overall economic performance in Italy. In Europe's 120 economic
regions, Emilia Romagna is in the top ten.

Clearly, something is going on.

In British Columbia, as in other parts of Canada and the United States,
there is a growing recognition of the need to apply the lessons of
successful co-operative economies to the commercial and civic realities
of North America. It has also been widely recognized by the co-
operative and CED community, that the opportunity for advanced level
studies in both the theory and application of co-operative economic
models has been lacking.

The absence of such study, the expansion of fundamentalist free
market ideology, and the lack of a sustained exchange of new co-op
ideas and best practices abroad within the main body of the co-op
movement have served to cripple the advancement of the co-op model
in North America.

The Bologna Summer Program grew out of a series of study tours that
were organized first in Ontario and then in BC in an effort to expose
co-op and social economy leaders to the new models of co-operation
being used in northern Italy.

These models applied not only to the operations of the co-op sector
and the social economy, but also to the manner in which the private
sector economy of small and medium firms organized its economic
relationships and operations to succeed in a global marketplace.

What is now known as The Emilian Model refers to the use of co-
operative principles for the joint production and distribution of goods
and services by private firms within their respective industrial sectors.
This strategy of mobilizing co-operative relations among private
enterprises is a new formulation of the co-op model within the context
of a small firm economy. It is also a unique instance of the co-op idea
migrating beyond the confines of the co-op movement to influence, at
a structural level, the operations of a mainstream capitalist economy.

As a regional response to globalization, The Emilian Model has
emerged as a clear alternative to mainstream ideas about how modern
economies must adapt to the pressures of global corporate capitalism.
That this highly successful alternative is based on the co-op model is
of immense significance to the co-op movement. Co-operators need to
understand the potential of this alternative not in terms of the past,
but in the cross currents of the profound economic, social and political
changes that are unfolding today.

The Bologna Summer Program was established to explore the theory
and practice of co-operation as a model for economic and social
progress, using Emilia Romagna as a test example. The purpose of the
program is to understand and articulate a view of economics and social
relations from a contemporary co-operative perspective and to fashion
a viable theoretical and practical framework rooted in the co-operative
idea.

We intend a broad audience for the program. It is targeted to co-
operative and credit union leaders, practitioners, and students of co-
operative studies and to leaders from the non-profit sector and the
wider social economy, as well as key leaders from business and
government. The instructors include some of the world's leading
academics in co-operative economic theory, management, history, and
international trade.

Program participants acquire a solid grounding in co-operative
economic theory and in the practical uses of the co-operative model in
a broad variety of settings, both entrepreneurial and social. Indeed,
the balance between co-operative theory and practical application is
perhaps the most distinctive feature of the program.
The areas of study in the program include: The Economics of Co-
operation: The Civil Economy; Management in Co-operative
Enterprises; Co-operation in the Global Economy: The Emilian Model;
Special Topics: (offered in conjunction with co-op site visits).

In addition to structured lectures at the University of Bologna
(Europe's oldest university) program participants have the opportunity
to learn first hand from experienced practitioners in highly successful
co-operative enterprises operating both at a local and an international
level through co-op site visits in Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and
Trentino.

Many of these co-ops are selected as part of the program's focus on
the use of innovation and the creation of excellence in such areas as
artisan foods, research and technology transfer, and social service
delivery.

The program also provides participants with ample opportunity to
share perceptions and ideas in structured dialogue sessions and
through informal social gatherings.
Finally, in addition to the four-week course, The Bologna Summer
Program offers a Leadership Study Tour of one-week duration that is
oriented to the needs of leaders from business, government and the
non-profit sector that share an interest in innovative strategies for
economic and social development but are not able to devote the four
weeks required by the full program.

In the past three years, over 140 individuals have taken part in the
program. They have come from a very diverse background of
organizations and specializations within the public, private, co-
operative and social economy sectors. And this diversity has served
not only to widen the understanding of the co-op model to new areas,
but also to enrich the content and quality of the program through the
contributions and interactions they make possible. The social aspect of
the program is one of its strongest features.

In closing, it would be a mistake to view the value of this region solely
within the dry terms of economic theory and social development. The
lessons of Emilia Romagna and the magical city of Bologna extend
beyond economic success, impressive as that is.

The lifeblood of the region flows through the conduits of its culture, its
culinary excellence, its wondrous architectural and artistic heritage,
the abiding sense of beauty, and most of all, in the profound sense of
community and sociability that is evident in the piazzas, the packed
cafés, the festivals and celebrations.

It is not possible to separate the economic and social achievements of
Emilia Romagna from these deeper roots of community and the
cultivation of quality in life. The genius of this region has been its
ability to transmute the ancient sustenance of these people in their
food, crafts, culture, and enterprise into a thriving economy that is the
envy of Europe.

Emilia Romagna and its neighboring regions did not take the route of
mass industrialization for the production of low cost and low quality
goods to maximize corporate profit. Instead, they took what was best
in their culture and brought it to the world's table through a
combination of innovation, quality, small-scale entrepreneurialism and
co-operation.

These are lessons that are worth learning for those whose view of the
future includes both economic prosperity and a humane society.

The Bologna Summer Program allows us to learn what this can mean
in relation to our co-operative values and as a viable response in our
troubled times.

Note: John Restakis is Executive Director of the BC Co-operative
Association, co-founder and Co-ordinator of the Bologna Summer
Program for Co-operative Studies, and Sessional Instructor teaching a
course on "Co-operative Economies and Globalization" at SFU.

Bologna Summer Program Timeline - Summer 2005
The Bologna Summer Program will take place from:
June 27 ­ July 15 Non-credit stream
June 27 - July 22 Credit stream
Week 1: June 27 ­ June 30 Vancouver, BC
Weeks 2-4: July 4 ­ July 22 Bologna

Program Cost
The Bologna Summer Program includes both credit and non-credit
streams.
June 27 - July 22, 4 week credit program: $3,500 CDN
June 27 - July 15, 3 week certificate program: $3,200 CDN

Vancouver Sessions (Lecture Series) ­ Simon Fraser University
June 27 ­ June 30: $375

Leadership Study Tour - Bologna
July 15 ­ July 22: $3,200
Registration fee includes: accommodation, insurance, instruction,
interpretation, and travel in Italy.

For further information on the Bologna Summer Program, please
contact John Restakis at 604-662-3906 (restakis@bcca.coop), or visit
the BCCA web site: www.bcca.coop