This October in Torres Vedras, the ICBEC Secretariat joined cooperative educators, practitioners and mutual enterprise leaders at GICS 2025, an event convened under the theme Facing the Tipping Points – The Path of Cooperative Innovation for a Better World.
As a member of the Summit’s Advisory Group, our Secretariat helped shape the event’s agenda and actively participated in its key moments. Among them:
Workshop: “Leveraging Human Capital to Drive Innovation”
Led by ICBEC Secretariat Ilana Gotz alongside Jenny Capuano (Cooperazione Trentina) and moderated by Cathy Statz (International Centre for Co-operative Management), this session explored how cooperatives can invest in their people to foster innovation, strengthen trust and promote transparency – while staying true to cooperative values and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Final Plenary: “Cooperate for the Future — From Innovation to Action — Building a Sustainable Impact”
In the closing roundtable, participants reflected on the ideas and tools shared throughout the Summit, emphasising Principle 5 (Education, Training & Information) as a cornerstone for cooperative resilience and impact. This collective review also helped harvest key insights and propose the next steps that will feed into the forthcoming summary report from the Summit.
Over the two days of GICS2025, the cooperative movement reaffirmed that innovation doesn’t always start with technology —but with people, learning, and culture. From frontline workers to board members, investing in human capital and knowledge-sharing emerged as a central requirement for change.
At ICBEC, we believe that cooperative education is more than teaching business skills: it is about nurturing identity, participation and values. By connecting educators, researchers and cooperatives across borders, we aim to help the movement grow stronger, more innovative and more inclusive.
To explore more about our work and how you can join the conversation on cooperative business education globally, visit icbec.coop or get in touch with the Secretariat!