CO-LAB FOR FUTURE ECONOMICS
Unfortunately, the economy is working exactly as designed.
We believe we can design it differently to serve humanity. Therefore, we are doing it.
The CO-LAB for Future Economics is a nonprofit research and do space based in Vienna (Austria) and Bloemfontein (South Africa). We build the intellectual and practical foundations for economy development that starts inside communities. With that, we design economies in service to humanity.
WHAT WE ARE
A research and do space.
Not a think tank, charity, or social business project.
CO-LAB for Future Economics is a nonprofit association registered under Austrian law, based in Vienna, with a legal nonprofit presence under South African law, registered and based in Bloemfontein.
We generate economic theory from fieldwork and return it to practice. Our research does not precede our work. It emerges from it.
We are not neutral. We believe the economy is designed and, therefore, open to redesign. We are here to do that work. Rigorously. On the ground. With the people it concerns.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Economy is a social practice. It can be redesigned.
Economy, at its root, is how a community manages its resources to secure its own survival. It is older than markets, older than money, older than states.
We have drifted far enough that the consequences are evident: climate breakdown. Debt. Social fracture. Loneliness. This is the moment to redesign the economy back to its meaning: to serve humanity.
Insight 01
“The Western world has a specific, narrow definition of economy that mistakes extraction for prosperity.”
Insight 02
“The informal economy is not a glitch in the system. It fills gaps where the formal economy leaves people behind.”
Insight 03
“Where the state is strongest, community is weakest. That is not coincidence. That is design.”
WHERE WE WORK
We work where
social capital is richest.
Social capital is the foundational resource for any economy that serves humanity.
Where formal systems are absent or unreliable, communities do not wait. They organize, build networks, informal exchange systems, and mutual support structures. That social capital is the foundation for building regenerative local economies.
That is why we work in Africa. Not because Africa needs saving. Africa holds what much of the Western world has lost: dense community networks and adaptive informal economies. People who cannot afford to wait for external solutions don't wait.
And that sets the tone for our work in other parts of this world where people want to take economy development into their own hands.
WHAT WE DO
Economy development. Not economic development.
The distinction matters.
We accompany and support communities in developing their local economies from within, with the capital they already hold: resources, relationships, and knowledge. In practice, we bring together the forces every economy needs: technology, capital, and humanity.
1 | Field Approach
We co-create with communities through an iterative approach of co-design, build, and revise. We return continuously to what we learn and weave it into the work.
2 | Research
Our field work generates knowledge. We investigate, document, and publish the patterns of community economies, the mechanics of social capital, and the conditions under which regenerative models take hold.
3 | Strategic Field Partnerships
Our field work allows us to offer something a conventional consultant cannot: pattern recognition and implementation capacity built from the ground up.
THE FIELD WORK
We do what we say. What Matters is the proof.
Every economy begins with people. Yet economic development has long focused on the individual or the single business. Prosperity does not work that way. It evolves through relationships, trust, knowledge, and the exchange of values.
Our field initiative, What Matters, is where this thinking meets the ground. We work with community members in townships and underserved settlements to co-create the conditions for economic value to circulate. The infrastructure that emerges from our work takes the form of local nodes we call Community Economy Hubs.
This is community economy development in practice. Currently in Bloemfontein (South Africa), with activities in East Africa and Germany.
Our Pre-Hub Experience
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GLOBALLY
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SOUTH AFRICA
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KENYA
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GERMANY
THE RESEARCH
We publish what we find important.
Not all of it is for free.
Our research begins where most economic inquiry does not: inside the communities it studies. Our research is based on established methodologies in Sociology and Economics, grounded through external advisors. We study community economies, informal economic systems, mental landscapes, language and narratives, and the conditions under which regenerative economic models take hold and scale.
We investigate the mechanics of social capital as economic infrastructure, the patterns of relational and contractual economies, the systemic reasons why formal development consistently fails to deliver, and what community-based economic resilience looks like.
We publish papers, field reports, and strategic analyses. Some openly. Some exclusively for members and strategic partners.
STRATEGIC FIELD PARTNERSHIPS
Good intentions for development are not enough. We help to change that.
Some governments, municipalities, investors, and foundations have reached the same conclusion: the way economic development is approached is often not delivering the intended impact.
We work with these partners. Not by selling one-size-fits-all frameworks. But by bringing field experience, research, uncomfortable questions, and implementation capacity into the room. And we stay through the entire process.
We offer
1 | policymaking and investment strategy labs,
2 | co-design implementation strategies,
3 | and implementation support.
Always rooted in what works on the ground and in the service of economy development that holds beyond the project cycle.
If you are a community or socio-economic fabric weaver interested in strategic field partnerships, please visit What Matters.
WHO WE ARE
One vision. Diverse backgrounds.
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NICOLE BASTIEN
Founder & President at CO-LAB Austria
Co-Founder & Director at COLAB South Africa
Vision, Capital & Community Economy
DevelopmentVienna, Austria
& Munich, Germany -
ANNEEN MAREE
Co-Founder & Director at COLAB South Africa
Partner at CO-LAB Austria
Vision, Community Economy Development
& Regenerative Ecosystems
Bloemfontein, South Africa -
KARAN SIKRI
Partner at CO-LAB Austria
Marketing & Communication
Business & Financial LiteracyHamburg, Germany
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ANJA SCHERBE
Co-Founder & Vice-President at CO-LAB Austria
Co-Founder & Director at COLAB South Africa
Governance & Compliance, PolicmakingVienna, Austria
& Germany
No Funnel. Direct Contact.
If this speaks to you, write to us directly. We would love to hear from you!
WORK WITH US
