ZagrebInitiative

HUB

HUB Zagreb InitiativeConcept paper

HUB Zagreb Initiative

Zagreb, Croatia

hubzag@gmail.com hubzagreb.tumblr.com/

This is an invitation to be part of a unique global ecosystem of persons, ideas and places dedicated to make this a better world. We believe that in

this world there is no shortage of people with good ideas but rather a crisis of access, infrastructure, scale and impact. Therefore, a strong need of

places that support entrepreneurial actors is on demand, places designed to enable these people to thrive.

You are invited to participate in offering a space like this, in opening the Hub Zagreb. The Hub is about people, the power of those who believe they can

change things, the power of people with ideas. It’s about the audacity, confidence and drive of people who belong to a new sort of individuals. These are the people who see and do things different. The Hub is also about

places, spaces where people from every background and culture are being united by the same thing- the imagination and drive to pursue enterprising

ideas for a radically better world. After all, another world is not just possible, it is happening. Because we know social innovation relies on having the visibility and access to the right mix of capital, knowledge and resources, the

HUB Zagreb seeks to offer the first physical space in Croatia that hosts, enables and supports social innovators.

Hubs can be found in cities all over the world. They are places carefully

designed to work, meet, innovate, learn and relax, places sharing the same core principles of the Hub world concept. Places slowly cooked by

local initiators who spice up the Hub concept to the local taste. In our case we are paving the way for the opening the Hub Zagreb by building the community and making this physical place a reality. In the same way

that an ecosystem is about the interaction of living things with the environment, the Hub Zagreb is about the power of inspiring a place

where new connections, relationships and initiatives can evolve, adapt and thrive.

A home for people to create a better world, and we’d like you to be part

of it.

Your are invited

It’s been some time since the first idea of having a place like the HUB in Zagreb appeared. Finally, and due to multiple synchronicities, patience and the force and momentum of the idea, the core team has started their first steps on making this

wish a reality. They have felt the forces of change coming to Croatia and have seen the urgent need for the common ground for change agents in our society as one of the basic precondition for this change to happen.

Now that the group has constituted a robust core team and believes in the strength and force of their combined network of like-minded people, they have decided to make this place a reality. They are aware of the challenges and the difficulties but

nothing can ever stop a genuine strong vision for social impact and community development, from coming to life, can it?. Social processes take time and the core team would like to contribute fostering this process as best as possible in their

community with the strategic support of other key agents.

Preface

Hub is a social enterprise based on membership fees with the ambition to inspire and support visionary ideas for a radically better world. Hub is designed to inspire and unite, to spark initiatives and to nurture ideas from conception to execution and then scaling

them up. By creating a space where many resources are accessible to members, an environment rich in experience and encounters with diverse people doing amazing things, Hub is a very special kind of innovation community.

Currently located in 28 major cities around the world, Hub’s multi-sited global offering will expand by 2014 to a total of 64 locations. This international network connects value-driven talent in world’s major cities and by doing so, scales and diversifies our

knowledge-sharing platform and attracts market-facing opportunities tackling systemic global challenges.

We need new models that blend social and environmental value with economic viability. It felt vital to create places around the world for accessing space, resources,

connections, knowledge, experience and investment. A concept model built on the belief that ideas and abilities to shape a radically better world are already existent, yet environments and opportunities, inspiration and connections as well as support and infrastructure are lacking.

The Hub borrows from the best of a member’s club, an innovation Lab, a serviced office, a think and do thank,

an atmospheric venue and the comforts of home.

The challenge

What isthe Hub

and the incentive When faced with a task of this magnitude, why not assemble great talent into a common and inspirational space? Together they can generate new ideas into actions for change. If tools and resources are combined, it’s easier to transform ideas into action. People in this environment will work collaboratively, sharing best practices to inspire and

grow; they will build and scale together, forming a values-driven, high-performing system that works toward a better world.

we invite you to be part of this design phase

The Hub Zagreb will be most likely located in the center of the city, according t the insights from our ongoing market research. It will be a working space reflecting the unique atmosphere of Zagreb center, which

provides a special blend between its historic past and the modern trends. The place will provide a creative and inspirational ambience. The interior design of the space will be dynamic and flexible for multipurpose

activities in the same space, playing smart with the size constraints and allowing interaction and collaboration. The place will focus on people of diverse professional and personal backgrounds, where different kind of impact-driven projects and ventures can be developed, co-created or multiplied.

Hub Zagreb will be an inspiring, creative, joyful and cosy place that will enable people of different professions to work and develop their own ventures, learn and co-create, and

All of this in order to foster and promote innovation that creates positive impact in the society

The Hub

conceptHub Zagreb offers this space to all those innovators passing the first phases of their ventures, when support and resources are most needed, but also offers space for mature organizations, because it is in an diverse

environment when ideas thrive.

Zagreb

description

have access to reliable resources, services and networks.

Hub Zagreb, representing a fertile ground for change, will attract a community of social innovators like no other place. Although having an attractive space works

for this attraction, the Hub will focus on a community of innovators from different fields and disciplines. It will also help building this community, necessary for

social innovation. Members of the hub will come from this community, whose ideas and actions will contribute creating a sustainable future. A group of people passionate about bringing value to the world and ready to exchange within a

collaborative community.

Some examples of activities of the members might include: working on specific

environmental solutions, designing for social change, creating participatory learning methods, supporting social entrepreneurs, rethinking international development, facility cross-sector cooperation and others.

Hub spaces are professionally hosted environments that connect members to increase ideas flow and collaboration. In practice, this means

that the HUB is staffed by Hosts who cultivate the conditions for collaboration and emergence within the members. The roles of the Hosts

do not have anything to do with traditional roles of receptionist and administrators. Hosts get to know what members are working on, who they are working with and introduce them to the people they should know.

Hosts also work to bring members together for group events and to transform member ideas into new opportunities for the community. This

subtle but effective change in roles accounts for a high-value network effect as Hosts prove to be essential in connecting opportunities with capabilities within and beyond the membership base. Perhaps most

importantly, Hosts responds to members daily needs for resources capacity and expertise.

Examples include: peer-to-peer mentoring, professional consults, open conversations, tailor made lectures and sessions, among others.

Main components of a unique proposition

Unique focus on change agents

Professional hosted environment

Hub spaces range from stimulating, collision-rich cafe and hot-desking environments that support

innovation, to quite areas that foster focused concentration, to places where members work the

phones for hours pushing the ideas forward. Therefore, spatial typologies range from public to private, autonomous to participatory, formal to

informal, focused to stimulating. Hubs also feature event spaces for large and small gatherings, such

as film screenings, art openings and presentations. Space design incorporates an expanded conception of work, including informal spaces to

eat, read, meet and relax.

Stimulating design

The Hub network connects more than 5,000 changemakers working across 5 continents.

Members in Zagreb will be able to work and collaborate with other members from any of the

30+ global locations, by also connecting virtually trough a member- based online social networking platform (Hub+). The network is growing rapidly

across the world. In central and Southeast Europe a cluster of Hubs is already presented as Hub

spaces in: Zurich, Milan, Rovereto, and Vienna and in the process of opening their doors in Rome, Athens and Istanbul.

Amazing collaboration within global network

The Hub will be an inspiring place in Zagreb that will enable people of different professions to work and develop their own ventures, learn, co-create and have access to reliable

resources, services and networks. All in order to foster and promote innovation that creates positive impact to the society. As noted, Hub Zagreb concept makes emphasis on the

physical characteristics of the space, the unique atmosphere and other non tangible features. Those components will give a special experience to the members. The focus on experience, as opposed to the mere provision of a workspace, will keep the retention rate

of our members high, in comparison to other offerings on the basis of price.

In order to make the main components of this unique proposition available to the public, the

Hub Zagreb core offer will relay on individual, differently price membership system. This time-based tariff delivers dramatic innovations in the future of flexible and highly resourced work space inhabited by social innovators. The Hub Zagreb tariffs proposed are (prices are

subject to continued review and changes):

Hub unlimited - unlimited amount of hours per monthHub 120 - 120 hours per monthHub 80 - 80 hours per monthHub 40 - 40 hours per monthHub 20 - 20 hours per monthHub connection - 5 hours per month

This tariff model allows a smart utilization of the Hub space, because the Hub is able to turn over the same workspace many

times in the day, Therefore spreading the risks and giving advantageous market offer with positive financial return. In the

case of the Hub Zagreb, the focus on experience, as opposed to the mere provision of a workspace, keeps the retention rate of our members high, in comparison to other offerings on the basis

of price.

Apart from the time access of every package, the membership

enables immediate access to a physical space suited for diverse tasks such as high speed wireless internet, access to meeting and workshop spaces, personal storage space and access to

the international Hub members database., among others

Business model

Membership fees are not the only source of revenue. The Hub offers space for other events like meetings, presentations, world cafes, debates, art

shows, lectures, performances and films. It will generate revenue from the renting of these spaces. Although many of the spaces might be free of charge for the members, a full charge will exist for non-members. Other revenues might be generated via partnerships established with other key

collaborators who pay for a package of service (i.e. meeting/event spaces, innovation processes, workshops, mentoring programs), but this option will be analyzed according to demand.

Among the costs the most important are the ones regarding management and operation, particularly rent, staff salaries and facilities. However,

there are some up-front costs needed to cover renovation and adaptation of the space, licensing payments and permits. Detailed information regarding financial projections will be available soon within the feasibility study.

Implementation strategyhe HUB Zagreb is scheduled to open in the late autumn of 2011 with the estimated up to 25% of the membership capacity. The implementation strategy involves parallel community building around HUB Zagreb including potential future users, key partners, collaborators and clients, as well as work on designing of both the space and the future services and infrastructure of the place. A feasibility study is on the way, more accurate information regarding market analysis, financial projections and critical risk factors, will appear in this document in detail. The responsibility of executing the next steps lies on a diverse management team of entrepreneurs. They are a resourceful group of people skilled in a variety of business fields and disciplines (see Annex).

HUB Zagreb Initiative is currently working in the following activities:

- Integration of the core HUB World values to the HUB Zagreb business model (May 2011)

- Gathering and building up a resourceful and support seeking creative individuals and groups from different fields and disciplines (on going)

- Raising funds and other capital necessary for the opening of the Hub (on going)

- Completing the feasibility study (June 2011)- Networking and partnering with key collaborators (on going)- Designing inspirational and flexible working environment as well as

the Hub Zagreb service design providing a unique experience for the future HUB members (August 2011)

Miljenka Plazonic is a facilitator and trainer in area of organisational and project development, with many

years of experience, mostly in software development industry. Miljenka is a member of several international networks and one of them is Art of hosting where she has been present from its beginnings. Experiencing Art of hosting and co-hosting it, made a permanent shift in

perceiving possibilities in group processes and made a huge impact to all areas of her work. A wish to have a physical space where people can be hosted to make best of their ideas and jobs brings her into this team.

Jasenka Gojsic is a telecommunication engineer, MSc in management, consultant and trainer in the fields of project organizations and transformational changes. In her previous career she contributed to building "a better Croatia" by leading Croatian Academic and

Research Network - CARNet in the project and early institutional phase, at that time technologically and organizationally leading the edge change agent in the society. Today, she is balancing her professional activities, family life with three children and continuous

personal development. Establishing the Zagreb HUB means to her a fresh opportunity to participate in the new transformation of the society, this time bridging the gap between growing understanding in the society for the importance of individual contribution and a

severe lack of structured and organizational support for connecting people and harvesting results of their relationships.

Annex Ana Raguz is a designer with proven records of her genuine intentions on social development. She

is an idealist with a strong purpose-driven soul and a natural talent on caring deeply for others. She

developed a focus on human centered design through her experience as landscape designer in Mexico and The Netherlands. After finishing her

masters in Tourism and Environment she has experienced the challenges of combining

community based projects and social capital in Croatia. Being a fast learner girl that copes easily with responsibilities, she is keen to continue

designing schemes on group participation and team working for social cohesion and rural

development. As a creative person she believes on the power of design and understands the advantages of co-creation combining analytical

tools and personal introspection.

Duska Jelic is a freelance architect with more than 10 y of hands on experience in architectural

project management and architectural design of various building typologies, competence in

current local building legislation and it's application within specific project types. She is a member of Postgraduate Continuous Education

Board at Croatian Chamber of Architects and is also active within Zagreb Architects Society.

Duska is driven by constant curiosity and passion for fine tuning the correlations of physical space, environmental issues and social context with

technology at hand. She is motivated by and dedicated to creating a platform for exchange of

ideas, strongly believing in the power of multidisciplinary teamwork as the ultimate tool for rediscovering the new social awareness.

Core team of initiators

Jasmina Lukasevic is facilitator and consultant in

the area of participatory processes and related methodologies, focused on pro ject and

organizational development, improvement process and in generally, projects where complexity and new solut ions are involved and inv i ted.

Participating at her first Art of Hosting training in 2003, has made huge impact on her personal

perspective of working with people, co-creating together, giving structure to the organizations or communities and has opened new field of hosting

people in process, engaging and involving people into creating new, innovative, sustainable solutions.

This experience has transform her into a passionate host with willingness to offer and invite many meaningful conversations in teams,

organizations, projects, communities, as well as in her life. Jasmina is mathematician engineer with

many years of experience in software development company and she is a member of the Art of Hosting community where she continuously gains

new learning, inspiration and new practice together with her colleagues and AOH mates.

Vesna Vrga is a lecturer and consultant in the field of project management, and has been in recent

yea rs engaged i n t he p repa ra t i on and implementation of projects financed from EU funds.

She has more than 10 years of experience in Croatian Academic and Research Network-CARNet where she worked on implementation of

ICT project, creation of digital contents and internet portals. Additionally, she was participating in

organizing committees of several international conferences and has organized educational and promotional events. Vesna has been a lecturer at

the Polytechnic in Šibenik since 2002 and was leading the establishment of the L3A - Life Long

Learning Academy during the 2006. She now works as a lecturer and consultant there. She is secretary general of Zagreb Society of Architects

since 2009. Vesna gained her degree in engineering at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of

Electrical Engineering and Computing, MBA at IEDC Bled School of Management in Slovenia and specialized education at the J.F.Kennedy School of

Government at Harvard University in USA, in Management Centre Europe in Brussels and at the

various international conferences.

Hermes Arriaga is an entrepreneur and networker, an extremely practical person with

spark in his eyes when he talks of creating social change, ideas popping out of his mind or

projects he is involved in. He is an agricultural engineer by profession. After finishing his masters in environmental economics and three

years of professional experience in the private sector, he is keen to continue working on social

entrepreneurship projects that strive towards creating positive social and environmental changes. As his mind has a strange tendency to

divert from the ‘usual’ ways of problem solving, in the projects he is developing he searches for

innovative and creative ways involving young people and participatory design thinking. He believes that the ultimate goal is human

deve lopment and soc ia l cohes ion. He understands the value and importance of local

contexts and has a talent for project steering, creatively materializing ideas into tangible entities.