World's First Research Conference on Social Economy
Changing how business is done is at the forefront of a four-day conference next week in Victoria, hosted by the University of Victoria’s BC Institute for Co-operative Studies (BCICS). “Strengthening and Building Communities: The Social Economy in a Changing World” is the first conference of its kind to bring academics and practitioners from around the globe together in an academic research setting. Organizations within the “social economy” put their profits back into their communities or into expanding their own services. They include non-profit associations and co-operatives and provide everything from banking services and health care to housing and food production. Local examples include Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Coast Capital Credit Union, Vancity, Island Farms, International Women’s Catering Co-op and Women in Need.