September 26, 2016

Launched in 2012, the International Summit of Cooperatives is a leading biennial business development event for the cooperative and mutual community, attracting participants from around the world. The Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives was officially launched in 2014.

This year, the Summit theme is entitled: “The Power to Act” and will highlight the actions and contributions that the cooperative and mutual community is making in response to the current challenges facing our societies.

During the International Summit of Cooperatives in Quebec, from 11 to 13 October, 2016, the Institute will be playing a key role in the following events:

Participant(s): Rym Ayadi, IRCCF and Institute Director, and Franco Taish, member of the Institute’s International Board of Governors
Date: October 12 – 2:15 pm to 5:15 pm
Location: 2000B

The sectoral meeting on banking will discuss the efficiency of the co-operative banking model in the light of the post-crisis regulation. The co-operative banks are particularly hit by the current rules that impose heavy burdens at the detriment of growth. In this context, the first roundtable will focus on how to stimulate growth through appropriate regulations. The following questions will be addressed: how is the current regulatory framework affecting co-operative banks? How can they continue playing their key role in funding the local and regional economy? What are the policy recommendations for integrating the co-operative specificities in the international rules? The second panel will focus on the views of researchers on the co-operative banks model performance and efficiency: what are the results compared to the rest of the banking sector? What are the challenges and opportunities for the future? Why their co-operative difference is important? Why should regulators take it into account?

Participant(s): Rym Ayadi, IRCCF and Institute Director
Date: October 12 – 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm
Location: 204AB

Participant(s): Eric Brat, Associate Professor of the Institute
Date: October 12 – 11:00 am to 12:15 pm
Location: 2000B

One cannot deny that creating a culture of innovation is a concern for most businesses. It is widely known that the ideas that stimulate new growth come from within the company, inspired by their experiences. However, attempts to build a culture of innovation –where employees share their ideas and use fast and low-cost processes to achieve leading-edge solutions– often go down.

Participant(s): Eric Brat, Associate Professor of the Institute, and Nabila Ouchene, Research Assistant of the Institute
Date: October 11 – 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Location: Auditorium in the room 400A

This study has been conducted by the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives. As part of the Institute’s expertise and knowledge transfer activities, this research deals with the priorities and practices that cooperatives place upon innovation. Based on an online survey sent to cooperatives around the world and on interviews conducted with financial cooperatives and mutuals, the study has two objectives: firstly, to rank the innovation priorities within cooperatives in general and compare them to financial cooperatives and non-cooperatives; secondly, to map the key innovative measures undertaken by financial cooperatives and mutuals.

Date: October 11-13
Location: Auditorium in the room 400A

The Cooperatives Gateway is a collaborative initiative that aims to create an international network for the digitization and access to knowledge relating to cooperatives. It comprises cooperatives, libraries, research centers, researchers, publishers, representative bodies of cooperatives and international organizations. Initiated by the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives and the HEC Montréal Library, in collaboration with Bibliomondo, a world-class technology partner, the Gateway already has thirty content partners. The aim of the presentation is to demonstrate the relevance of this initiative, to make known the current achievements and potential of the Gateway and to encourage the collaboration of all stakeholders in order to accelerate its development.

October 11

  • 11:30 am : Presentation in French with simultaneous translation at the scientific activities
  • 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm : Presentation in English (room 400)
  • 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm : Presentation in Spanish at the seminar on The Cooperative Movement in Latin America

October 12

  • 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm : Presentation in English (room 400)
  • 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm : Presentation in French (room 400)

October 13

  • 9:45 am to 10:15 am : Presentation in Spanish (room 400)

Date: October 11 – 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Location: 301AB

The Latin American cooperative movement has evolved rapidly in recent years. This event aims to present two pioneering research studies that reflect this change: firstly, the Banking and Credit Cooperatives Business Models Monitor – Brazil 2016 which paints the picture of banking institutions in Brazil, including the major credit cooperative systems; and secondly a study of Innovation priorities and practices in cooperatives which compares innovation in Latin American cooperatives with the rest of the world. There will also be a presentation of the new Cooperatives Gateway. This tool aims to contribute to the development of scientific analysis of cooperatives and within their environment, by providing academic and institutional researchers with access to existing knowledge and relevant data. A pilot experiment, which is part of an international collaborative network for document scanning, will be unveiled.