CoTech Gathering March 2026: Keeping Our Momentum Going

Following renewed energy for the network early on in the year we successfully brought the CoTech brand into the 21st century (thanks to Creative Coop!) and launched it at Co-op Congress in the summer, where we ran a shared stall and a workshop.

In the Autumn we focused on turning conversations that happened at Congress into practical infrastructure. Co-ops across the movement told us they want to work with values-aligned tech providers, but need clearer pathways to do so and that’s exactly what we focused on with £5k funding from Coops UK (for whom tech is a priority right now). By December we launched:

• a refreshed CoTech website with clearer storytelling and routes in for co-ops, prospective members, and the wider movement
• a streamlined discourse forum to support learning, discussion, and collaboration
• a shared network inbox and lightweight lead-triage system, making it easier for enquiries to reach the right co-ops

Together, this gives CoTech much bolder and clearer visibility which we can use to our advantage in the coming years.

For me this March gathering is all about keeping that momentum going, and leveraging these foundations to create some real buzz and awareness about CoTech in the coop movement and beyond.

Myself, Tim from Data Content Reach, and Simon from Agile Collective have been working on a CoTech Trade fair in the summer. Around half the day will be focused on designing this event, planned for June/July 2026 at SPACE4.

The Trade Fair is intended as a practical and informational event for the co-operative sector: a space to showcase CoTech members and our services, help co-ops improve their tech stacks, practise talking about our work, and strengthen CoTech as a shared offer. We've already done a fair bit of work but at this gathering, we’ll work together on what the content of the fair should look like how we want to present ourselves collectively.

The other half of the day is TBC, shaped by what people want and need right now.

We’ve got two rooms available to use for the whole day in SPACE4 - one fits 40 and the other fits 10-15.

There'll be a beautiful Caribbean lunch catered by Roti Joupa, round the corner from us. We'll be going to the pub after the sessions around 6pm.

Since we're a coworking space, if you have any unavoidable meetings I can book a booth for you. If you have questions/comments email me on [email protected].

• Contribute session ideas/changes/comments to .
• If you have a spare bed or want to organise a shared Airbnb,.
• Help me personally invite CoTech people. and update it if you invite someone.

SPACE4 is a part of Outlandish, a tech worker-cooperative committed to creating social and economic change. We run SPACE4 to invest in our local community, democratic business, and social movements. We achieve this through providing affordable workspace, networking and training events, and consultancy from our base in Finsbury Park. We are a hub for social innovators and digital activists. Don’t hesitate to get in touch or visit us.

SPACE4 Website: https://space4.tech

Follow us on socials: https://linktr.ee/space4coop

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