Local economy and crowd funding

We are interested in collaboration around an initiative to raise knowledge about how crowd funding and increased local ownership affects and acts as a catalyst on local development. Our LAG has visited the BALLE conference (Business Alliance for Local living economie shttps://www.livingeconomies.org) in USA and is interested in learning about european initiatives with a similar objective. Project idea is to meet, discuss and together find and build a local strategy around local economy and crowd funding.

Leader Åres Gröna Dalar is a sparcely populated area in mid/north Sweden bordering Norway with 8 500 inhabitants. The area is mountainous and has a rich history of mountain farms and sami reinherding side by side. Tourism developed as a side business all the way back to the pilgrim walkers heading to Nidaros in Norway, bus has nowadays taken over with the world famous Åre ski resort in its center. This area is good at attracting entrepreneurs of different kinds but funding is a constant problem. We have experimented over a number of years with social banking, and other experimental approaches around the concept of `local money´.

Finding 1-2 collaborating LAG Joint conference aimed at sharing knowledge around existing tools and experiences to do with money, funding and locally owned enterprices. Field trips to the BALLE network or other interesting initatives. Translating the BALLE "information pillars" to a European context. Finding practical tools for increasing local economy.

LAG with similar objective and ambition level.

Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, United Kingdom, Greece, Ireland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Malta, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Romania, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Lithuania, Latvia

Swedish, English

Community development, Economy

01/04/2012