The Shareable Australia launch took place in Melbourne on Wednesday 14 November to coincide with Global Sharing Day and there was a great turnout from a wide range of folks across industry, not-for-profits and local government.
I've been a contributor to Shareable for a couple of years now and approached Neal because I felt it was time to amplify some of the great work happening across Australia through the global platform provided by the Shareable community.
There’s a real sense of energy and momentum in this space through a range of startups and community groups and this was evident on the night by the calibre of people who came along to the event.
Local sharing economy leaders that took part in the launch included Tom Amos (Sidekicker), Liisa Vurma (Eat With Me), Jodi Jackson (The Lemon Tree Project), Will Emmett (Meemeep) and Tom LeGrice (PetHomeStay).
Each panellist provided a unique perspective on current challenges and future prospects for the sharing economy. Some of the key themes discussed were overcoming regulatory blockages in areas of transport and food distribution. Another major theme of the evening was the role of trust and reputation in enabling peer to peer transactions between strangers and frictionless sharing.
As Editor of Shareable Australia I’m looking for article suggestions on commons-based projects and examples of how our cities and suburbs are turning into platforms for sharing.
I’m also looking for contributors to help create local “how to share” guides for Australian cities and organisers interested in facilitating Share unconferences initially in places like Melbourne and Sydney.
There’s also great potential to create local Sharing Economy Working Groups following in the footsteps of the inspirational work being done in cities like San Francisco.
Also let me know how Shareable can support your local swap meet, sharing market or hackathon through our Events Network.
Thanks to our venue sponsor Hub Melbourne for generously providing the wonderful event space on the night and Wolf Cocklin for his great photos.
ethicalelements pulled together this fabulous Storify of the event from #shareableaus tweets from the crowd.
And my launch presentation is available here on Slideshare.