04 November, Amsterdam: October saw events take place all over Europe and the world in celebration of the freelancer’s movement, EFWeek. The call was heeded over the 10-day long annual festival where freelancers, coworking spaces and organisations took action with many events loaded on the EFWeek website from October 16th – 25th.
This year marked the fifth European Freelancers Week, which again saw the support of sponsor Smart the Cooperative campaigning behind the launch of the 2020 Freelancers Manifesto. Smart and EFWeek will hand over this declaration to the authorities and continue the movement for change. The sweeping changes we all have seen related to the Covid-19 pandemic this year have highlighted the importance of ensuring a sustainable future for freelancers and coworking spaces, and the manifesto consisting of principles such as Recognition, Access and Coworking seeks to aid in this quest.
“Smart has supported the #EFWeek since its beginning because we believe it is crucial that the reality of freelancers is known and that they are adequately taken into consideration in both economic and social policies,” says Sarah de Heusch from Smart Belgium.
In addition, world-first collaboration between sponsors, Nook Wellness Pods and Signify in the design of the #TrulifiNook came to life. A three-week showcase of super stable and secure LiFi internet housed in a customisable Nook Pod is available to all coworkers at the Creative Works space in London and L’Hort Coworking in Barcelona.
Karen Bamford of LiFi by Signify says: “EFWeek is a great opportunity to get in touch with these front line innovators and the coworking spaces that support them. The partnership with Nook was the perfect way to put our technology in their hands, and it was fun to see how much people enjoyed the experience, but it also highlighted how we can sharpen our solution to bring even more value to the wider coworking community.”
David O’Coimin from Nook Pod Wellness adds: “Our highlights from a packed week where we partnered with Signify to bring Trulifi to the world were: Hosting the world’s first webinar over LiFi; installing the first Sensory Nook in a workspace at Creative Works in London and working with the great team at L’Hort Coworking in Barcelona. We are looking forward to next year’s EFWeek already.”
The Freelance Business Community also joined as a partner to the EFWeek this year. Celebrating the Freelance Business Month during October, this digital event hosted an array of speakers from across the world.
“Freelance Business Month demonstrated the growing power of independent professionals around the globe. In the course of five weeks, we spoke about the Future of Freelancing and the Future of Work where freelancing is an integral part of the equation. It is clear that so much work needs to be done to increase awareness of freelancing and independent professionals and their added value to any economy. The mission of the #EFWeek therefore is invaluable to bring this message forward,” says Elina Jutelyte, founder of Freelance Business Community.
Support from other sponsors and partners included The Events Calendar, Cowork Tools, CCCSEE, Syncaroo, Malt, Freelancing.eu, Wishlist, Included.co, AllWork, Urban MBA, na volne noze and Freelance Heroes
We have come together to harness our strengths and discuss solutions for the future. In coworking we talk a lot about community – but community is not born because you want one. Community is born by joining together to achieve a shared goal, and this year’s EFWeek has certainly provided that opportunity to forge ahead.
“Given the importance of this moment in time, and these independent workers, it is the intention of the European Coworking Assembly to expand the EFWeek during this year. We aim to continue highlighting freelancers and freelancer initiatives and to expand on the week to include microbusinesses. I hope you will join us,” concludes Jeannine van der Linden from the European Coworking Assembly.
