Innovation Commons

by david on May 16, 2006

It seems that all of this Barcamping and meshing has made me a little crazy. But I am going to accept the role of Executive Director of the Innovation Commons. We are working to build a community of Third working spaces for Canadian entrepreneurs. I am going to champion this cause and build a facility in Toronto, Vancouver and anywhere else across the country that is interested in providing a co-working space to entrepreneurs and knowledge workers.

What the heck is a third working space? Home = 1, Work = 2, cafe/other/InnovationCommons = 3. For many of us home and work are the same thing. Human beings are social animals. We thrive on the energy that comes from the collisions with other individuals. It’s the creative tension from differing view points. It’s the energy and excitement of BarCamp, mesh, and other events that we need to capture. The cafe lifestyle that begins to develop in urban environments. Why not provide a self-sustaining environment that facilitates, encourages, and fosters the energy and the people. We’re going to start talking about this more and releasing details in the next couple of days.

{ 15 comments }

fathawar May 16, 2006 at 9:35 am

Trackback from fathawar:

The new workspace

Randy Charles Morin May 16, 2006 at 9:56 am

Congrats Dude!

Pete Forde May 16, 2006 at 12:52 pm

That's awesome, David!

What the heck is a Third working space?

James Walker May 16, 2006 at 5:51 pm

WOW! way to step up, dude. I'm in for the Toronto one! :)

robhyndman.com May 16, 2006 at 9:03 pm

Trackback from robhyndman.com:
David Crow 2.0

I got a sneak peek of this idea during the Big Yellow Bus ride to the Drake Hotel on Monday – David Crow is going to become Exec Director of the Innovation Commons: 'We are working to build a community of Third working spaces [see David's p…

Varun Mathur May 16, 2006 at 10:02 pm

Congrats and good luck !

Sounds like an interesting cross between a campus, cafe and a workspace atmosphere. 'Home' is just too comfortable. As an 'entrepreneur', I am quite interested in it.

Hogtown Consulting May 17, 2006 at 5:00 am

Trackback from Hogtown Consulting:
Aula – Finnish for cool

This is a re-post of a piece I originally posted on the, soon to be defunct, original Wireless Toronto blog. I thought it was worth saving as it plays right into an interesting conversation about third places in Toronto that is taking place right now….

Mathew Ingram May 17, 2006 at 5:24 am

That's great, David-a terrific idea. And thanks again for all your help with mesh.

John Lam May 17, 2006 at 7:58 am

Congratulations on your next big thing! I look forward to seeing what comes out of this.

Tamera Kremer May 17, 2006 at 9:45 am

Excellent idea David! I'm in. Let me know if you need any extra hands getting this going.

Mish May 17, 2006 at 11:58 am

Congrats on the job! The idea sounds great. I am looking to get more involved in the entrepreneur/IT community so let me know if you need a hand.

James Sherrett May 18, 2006 at 8:26 am

Congrats from the left coast too. I'd be interested in learning more about the Innovation Commons effort out here in Vancouver. Is there anyone heading it up in Vangroovy?

Chris Messina May 21, 2006 at 7:00 pm

Excellent. I can't wait to start spreading this around the world!

Andy Howard June 5, 2006 at 6:47 am

Trackback from Andy Howard:
International co-working is working

Teh Space in San Francisco is now officially kicked off and inhabited. Awesome job guys.
Teh Space is the effort to create a coworking space in San Francisco. Coworking is cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independent…

Debbie_h2o March 6, 2009 at 12:00 am

hmmm… sounds like a great idea. What's happened with this recently?

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