The Fondazione Ivano Barberini now aims to promote the culture of cooperative enterprise and to produce research, surveys and studies on the characteristics and future potential of cooperation as an economic and social movement.
Fondazione Barberini will be at the ICA EXPO in Manchester to celebrate the 2012 IYC.
The mission of the Foundation is to recall and draw inspiration from the philosophy of Ivano Barberini, who dedicated his life to finding and developing strategies to enhance the cooperative approach and establish the cooperative business model as an integral and essential part of Italian and global economy.
At the heart of this philosophy is the firm belief that cooperatives are not simply an alternative way of producing and distributing wealth through business activities, but also a fundamental factor in the building and reinforcing of democratic values.
The concept of cooperation continues to be based on principles and values defined in the nineteenth century, but the movement is by no means static. On the contrary, it is in constant evolution.
The cooperative movement has proven to be the business format that has succeeded, more than any other, in creating operational opportunities in practically every sector of the economy.
There are nearly one billion cooperative members around the world and yet, many people are still unaware of these structures and the opportunities they offer.
The mission of the Fondazione Ivano Barberini is, therefore, to help create a network,of study centres by setting itself up as a central reference point for the wider activity of raising awareness and promoting the culture of cooperation within our society.
The Foundation aims to focus particularly on the younger generation by supporting initiatives regarding their future (through grants for research on cooperative issues and the construction of stable relationships with schools of all types and levels) and by involving young people directly in the activities of the Foundation.
In short, the idea is to look to the future and the Foundation therefore seeks to:
• Share its national and international excellence with the world of social and economic research, by bringing the question of cooperation to the attention of researchers and launching a new season of studies focused on
cooperatives.
• Generate opportunities for interaction between the world of research and cooperation.
• Reinforce the presence of cooperative issues in public debate and raise awareness of cooperation and the culture, history and values on which its position in our economy and society is founded.












