greetings from a worker that work at Ikerlan (a research/technological center part of the corporation). We are a second degree cooperative. Formed by workers and companies that we work for. You can see things that we do at https://www.ikerlan.es/en/
Happy to answer to questions if I can :)
I've just started a worker coop last year with some colleagues. We serve for-profit traditional businesses in the cannabis industry, helping them build data and analytics capabilities.
I've wanted to do something like your "second degree" approach, with the goal of creating closer relationships to help guarantee a sustainable long-term lifestyle business.
Do you think you could have gone the "second degree" route if you had served for-profit clients? How did early conversations about this ownership model unfold?
Do you have any advice for others who want to follow your model?
Can new customer-owners join? How does that work with existing customer-owners?
Thank you! Much respect.
Moreover, we also offer always the possibility to do a PhD in different domains. (power converters, batteries, embedded electronics, safety critical systems, wireless technologies, IoT , AI, etc). In my team we have 4 PhD students right now in collaboration with different universities.
You do pass the ALL Rochdale principals?