Webinar: Liberating circular economies through new currencies

• Professor Jem Bendell and IFLAS colleagues are hosting a webinar on currency innovation as part of the Disruptive Innovation Festival
• The webinar takes place from noon to 1pm on Friday, November 7 2014
• Sign up for the event at: http://www.thinkdif.co/emf-stages/liberating-circular-economies-through-new-currencies

Professor Jem Bendell

What has our monetary system got to do with greater sustainability? 

Could entirely new, independent, currencies enable businesses and communities to trade more efficiently? Could they help increase utility with less resource consumption? Could they encourage more local trade? Could currencies be the most important blindspot of the movement for sustainability and the circular economy? 

This session will explore these questions, and point to very initial research that suggests much could be achieved through currency innovation for sustainable development. First, watch a section of Professor Jem Bendell’s lecture, and then a video on the case of the Banglapesa in Kenya (both below). Then join Professor Bendell and other tutors from the ‘Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange’ in this webinar to explore this emerging agenda of sustainable innovation.

Professor Bendell will be joined by: 

• Matthew Slater, who implements community currencies, from creating the open source software to advising on design to joining them together.
• Tom Shakhli, who is a social entrepreneur working on disruptive currency innovations. He manages the Brixton Pound, a local currency in South London, and is a Senior Policy Officer at Lambeth Council.
• Will Ruddick, who is founder of Banglapesa, a famous community currency in Kenya.  
• Morgan Richards, who is a researcher on community currencies. 

Sign up for this event and find more information about the Disruptive Innovation Festival at http://www.thinkdif.co/emf-stages/liberating-circular-economies-through-new-currencies

Video 1: University of Cumbria - Inaugural lecture by Professor Jem Bendell 

In this video, Jem speaks about the problem of money from 14 minutes.




Video 2: Bangla-Pesa - Empowering a Grassroots Economy