Slides from the keynote speech "From coworking space to decentralized creative hub for work" by Toolbox Coworking -Coworking Europe Conference 2015 in Milan.

1. From coworking space
to decentralized creative hub for work
The 6-year-story
of Toolbox Coworking in Turin
Sara Bigazzi

2. Let’s cook some of this!
credits fmt.sight14

3. We first started in 2010
as a 44-workstation coworking space.
1,000 square meters
(a pretty big one to start from)

4. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

5. Then we grew.
Up to 6,000 square meters
and more than 300 coworkers.

6. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

7. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

8. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

9. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

10. In 5 years
We became the focal point in Turin
for the future of work and for
• Freelance culture
• Entrepreneurship culture
• Cross innovation
• Maker culture
• Graphic Design culture
• IoT & AI innovation
• Social Innovation
• Culture innovation

11. Local authorities
started looking at us
as the main partner
to produce innovation-driven content
and to get in touch with communities
they are not able to reach.

12. This is how we did it.

13. First,
with a calendar of events
about entrepreneurship, start-up skills, and new
technologies
and partnerships
with stakeholders such as universities,
incubators, work communities, local authorities
and non-profit organizations.

14. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

15. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

16. Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

19. Then,
we understood the importance of cohabitation.
Toolbox Coworking turned into a multicentered structure.
We started hosting communities in our spaces
each with their own knowledge, skills, and backgrounds
but willing to share and mix with the others.

20. 1 | Fablab Torino / Officine Arduino
Digital fabrication laboratory, makerspace and
development hub for Arduino board.
Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

21. 1 | Fablab Torino / Officine Arduino
Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

22. 2 | Casa Jasmina
The Open Source way to the connected home:
• A real-world testbed for hacks, experiments and
innovative IoT and digital fabrication projects.
• A curated space for public exhibition of excellent
artifacts and best practices.
• A guest-house available on Airbnb.

23. 2 | Casa Jasmina

24. 2 | Casa Jasmina

25. 3 | Print Club Torino
A print and graphic lab to mix new and traditional
technics and experiment with digital and hand-made
skills and know-how.
Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

26. 3 | Print Club Torino
Photo Credits: Stefano Borghi

27. 4 | DigifabTURINg
A research cluster focused on digital fabrication,
robotic automation and applied materials research
in the field of architecture, interaction design and art.

28. 4 | DigifabTURINg

29. Simply put, we look like a nice cloud of fried eggs.
By adding communities to the net of people
we turned into a creative hub for work,
a larger coworking ecosystem connecting people and communities.
———
Ours was a bottom-up strategy.
We created the conditions for the ecosystem to grow autonomously.
———
Living together in the same shared space
makes cross-fertilization easier between coworkers and subcultures.

30. over 300
events a year
workshops, talks & panels
one-to-one tips, meetups
special events
Fablab Torino
DigifabTURINg
Print Club
Torino
Casa Jasmina
hosted
events
coworking
events

31. Toolbox Coworking
today
300-people community
of freelancers, startups, small business
110 different businesses
6,000 square meters

32. To make our coworking model work,
we need:
• A highly diverse professional environment to foster
people’s creative ability, business effectiveness, and
capacity to innovate.
• A balanced mix between emotional stability and
intellectual stimuli.
• A well-developed, interconnected structure with big
numbers.
Our takeaways are…

33. The complexity of today’s world requires a
multidisciplinary approach and this means:
• Overcoming the trade-off between arts and science
• Putting software and hardware under the same roof
• Making sure the ingredients can mix well
Our takeaways are…

34. Hope you like eggs!
toolboxcoworking.com