Thomas Dönnebrink

Thomas Dönnebrink is OuiShare Connector Germany and freelancer in the collaborative economy. He was trained as a language teacher and later became the founding CEO and Headmaster of the German Embassy School in Izmir, Turkey. Now based in Berlin, he is interested in the collaborative economy, especially from the angle of its prospective contribution to new, sustainable and human economy and society (e.g., see this presentation). Today, Dönnebrink is involved in the “OuiShare Sharitories” project and interested in Sharing Cities. In this and other contexts and networks he is involved in the convergence of ideas, networks, and movements that aim at having an impact on changing the world for the better. As freelancer, he is involved in convening events, research projects, workshops, presentations, and lectures.  He is also consulting on topics in the collaborative economy.

European experiments with worker ownership and self-governance
The P2P nature of the front-end of “sharing economy” platforms is helping users to fulfill their needs; therefore it should be supported. The traditional, venture capital-sponsored, neoliberal back-end of those platforms, however, extracts data and concentrates profits in the hands of the few, which makes it hardly worthy of our support.

This talk will provide examples of European experiments with worker ownership and self-governance, demanding that stake holders should become shareholders and that governments, cities, or foundations should step up and champion these public interest projects.