The challenge of the Komunigi project, which means 'to pool' in Esperanto, involves building a community of users and developers who will co-decide and co-finance the strategy for an Odoo Community-based IT solution for cooperative supermarkets. The aim is to pool the financial resources and time of an entire community to co-build a generic, open-source and universally accessible solution.
Watch our short "City of Innovators" video with Coop IT EASY here!
Coop IT Easy 's impact on Brussels
I believe our solution allows Brussels to position itself as a pioneer for both creating free open-source software and linking it to the entire social economy sector, which is extremely buoyant in Brussels. It allows us to experiment with different ways of financing, pooling and co-building software with a social impact, explains Robin Keunen.
How has Innoviris' support helped them with their project?
The partnership with Innoviris provided them with financial resources in the form of a €100,000 subsidy that allowed them to pay for technical development and the creation of the user community.
Our Industrial Research Unit supported Coop IT Easy as part of the Prove Your Social Innovation programme, thanks to our Scientific Advisor, Mathilde Stokart.
The future of the project
The user community was founded, its general governance was defined and monthly meetings continued beyond the subsidy period. A website (https://komunigi.org/en/homepage/) was created, together with a promotional video, a welcome booklet for new members, and more.
Most of the code used was made generic and available in the "Odoo Community Association" for use beyond the core user community.
Who is Robin Keunen?
Robin Keunen is a Software Engineer at Coop IT Easy. Coop IT Easy offers IT management consultancy services to social economy stakeholders at an affordable rate.
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