Coworking Summit 2023: The Recap

On the 8th and 9th of November, the second edition of the Coworking Summit was held in Concepción, Chile, organised by Casa W after a three-year hiatus. Nexudus was the proud sponsor of Marc Navarro’s panel ‘Coworking, Flexible Work and the Future’, keep reading for Marc’s recap of the event. 

The coworking brand from Biobío was founded over 9 years ago and currently has three locations that are very distinct from each other. The first one, located in the city centre, is small, as is the second one, which is situated in Andalué, a residential neighbourhood on the other side of the river. However, the third location, also in the city centre, is a spectacular building where Casa W occupies the top two floors with a total of 1200m². The event took place in a large tent, with a capacity for over two hundred people, set up for the Summit next to this building. 

The event was a stark difference from what we are used to in other coworking events. On one hand, the event was free and had the support of Corfo, the development agency of the Chilean government. On the other hand, it combined the theme with a lot of entrepreneurship content. The reality is that when talking to Iván Fierro, co-founder of Casa W, after visiting the CWSC, he commented, "the reality of coworking are very different there (Spain) than here (Chile)." The reality Iván was referring to is, for example, that of Concepción, a city with a metropolitan area of 1.5 million inhabitants where, beyond Casa W's flagship, there are few spaces, all of them small. If we were to compare it with Barcelona, for example, we could say that it is approximately ten years behind. The concept of coworking, popularised in Chile by Work Cafés of Banco Santander (they actually originated in the Andean country before expanding to Spain), and this has led to the creation of flexible workspaces, mostly small, in universities, sports clubs, or hotels (we actually found a Wojo Spot). So, the concept has more traction than it did in European capitals a decade ago, but it still has a lot of potential for development to reach the industry we all know. 

In Santiago, of course, the story is very different: office vacancies in the market had fallen significantly from 2014 to 2018, reaching slightly below 5%. From 2019, it began to increase until 2022, when it reached values above 11%. The net absorption rate for 2023 records the best value in the last five years and has been increasing for four quarters, leading to a vacancy rate of 10.1%, perhaps partly thanks to a slight decrease in rental prices in both class A and B.

Much has happened since the 2019 edition, and some things have changed, but others remain the same. The 2019 edition was organised by Chile Cowork, the strong coworking association in Chile at that time, but it has been extremely weakened after Corfo withdrew the aid it provided to spaces to operate for about three years. It took place in the picturesque Valparaíso and also had a mix of content on flexible workspaces and entrepreneurship in the program. 

I started with a talk in which I discussed global trends in the flexible workspace industry. It's a topic, a fan favourite, that I am frequently asked about at conferences and is always a challenge for several reasons: on the one hand, trying not to repeat the same thing over and over, but above all, anticipating things that are not mainstream or obvious, and even things that are obvious but no one wants or can talk about. The focus, given that the audience was hybrid (operators and potential consumers of flexible workspaces), concentrated on 3 topics and a final message to the audience that tried to answer the title of the presentation: Is coworking a tool or a new way of building space? 

I began by illustrating the problem of spaces in retaining talent in their management teams, showing six examples of people who have worked in the industry and now work in startups. Flexible workspace needs not only to strengthen its teams with profiles with a background in hospitality but also to try to offer more value on different levels to its staff who deal with key areas. Flexible workspace staff is in contact with many startups that often offer a lot of flexibility, something that flexible workspaces usually do not offer to their staff. Regarding talent retention, we can say that we have "the enemy" at home. 

We also talked about what is costing companies in some countries and sectors to convince workers to return to the office and how flexible workspaces can be a solution to this by offering flexible and high-quality workspaces in locations that reduce commute time to something reasonable for people. And speaking of flexibility, ultra-flexibility is still a product that significantly contributes to revenue in many locations or has become an extra that, if we can automate to the maximum, does not generate excessive work and brings life to the space. This is one of the many "as-a-service" offerings we provide as an industry (but they also begin to offer us many products as a service: "IT as a service" or "phone booths as a service," "furniture as a service," and what is yet to come). 

The final reflection is as simple as that the flexible workspace industry has become, largely thanks to technological evolution and the power of integrations, a very efficient way to consume space but at the same time remains linked to innovation, training, integration, technology, and interpersonal relationships, whether professional or personal: users simply have to choose the space that best fits them.

After the talk, I sat down with Ivan Fierro from Casa W, Gonzalo Camiruaga from Launch Cowork, Patricio Pizarro from Nube, and Marcelo Moraga from Aldea Cowork locals to discuss how these trends are present (or not) in the Chilean market in a panel that was, of course, sponsored by Nexudus.

The conversation started by commenting on the trends mentioned earlier and then took a direction focused on an audience where potential users of flexible workspaces were the majority. Topics such as the advantages that flexible workspaces offer to companies in terms of information exchange and networking were discussed, as well as what tools or technologies have been implemented to improve productivity and collaboration among professionals. In this sense, it was highlighted how, organically, the tools used by the most tech-savvy users permeate the rest of the community. We continued discussing how coworking spaces can foster creativity and innovation compared to traditional offices, and how they influence the motivation and commitment of employees. 

The conversation began by discussing the trends mentioned earlier and then took a direction focused on an audience where potential users of flexible workspaces were the majority. Topics such as the advantages that flexible workspaces offer to companies in terms of information exchange and networking were discussed, as well as what tools or technologies have been implemented to improve productivity and collaboration among professionals. In this regard, it was highlighted how, organically, the tools used by the most tech-savvy users permeate the rest of the community. We continued discussing how coworking spaces can foster creativity and innovation compared to traditional offices, how they influence the motivation and commitment of employees, and addressing the most common challenges that companies face when adopting coworking solutions. 

The discussion also touched on the experience of different collaborative spaces in Concepción, such as La Monarca, C3 (Centro Creación Concepción), Casa Minga, Cowork Inacap, or Aura, all part of the cultural or innovation ecosystem of Concepción in one way or another. 

The rest of the event was highly focused on the startup ecosystem and conveying what investors pay attention to. If I had to highlight two talks, I would probably choose those of Marcela Escobar and Dani Tricarico. Marcela spoke about how, Manizales Más, a public-private and academic alliance, has driven economic development and innovation in Manizales, Colombia. Daniel, on the other hand, introduced the audience to the world of impact entrepreneurship, using the B Corp seal as an example, defining impact standards and being used by more than 150,000 companies worldwide. 

In this edition, networking was not lacking, both during and after the event on the terrace of Casa W and during the off-conference once everything was finished. An event that is undoubtedly worth attending, and in the future, we would like to see the entire Chilean coworking ecosystem come together again.