Regardless if you are a tech startup, remote employee, small business owner, out-of-town visitor or work for a large corporation, you could potentially benefit from a coworking and collaboration space.
What is Coworking?
It is coming together with many different businesses to share work space, create connections and spark innovation. The costs can be much cheaper than renting a full office space and is much more flexible. You might choose this type of arrangement once a week or find that it is something you want to do regularly instead of visiting a coffee shop.
The environments are built specifically around the idea of co-working. Furniture is designed to be modular, flexible and encourages collaboration. Although some users will have a permanent desk, others are completely mobile and take their things with them.
CoCo & Minneapolis Grain Exchange
This last weekend, CoCo (http://www.cocomsp.com/) launched a state of the art co-working location at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange building. The location that CoCo is using is a wonderful story in itself. Minneapolis was built on the fortunes of the milling industry and one of the central institutions which made Minnesota a global leader in milling is the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. For over 125 years the Grain Exchange has been the key market for many commodities and had a very active live trading floor. At the end of 2008, the last live trading session on the Grain Exchange floor took place as they switched to a completely electronic system and the historic trading floor fell silent. This amazing space has sat empty for the last two years but now will again be a thriving environment that is positioned to help launch and support the next generation of companies whom hopefully can grow into the General Mills, Target, Best Buy or Medtronic of the future. This is also a space that could be an amazing innovation center for current companies to come together, get out of their regular routine and work together to spark new ideas. Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak looks to this space as the new “Brain Exchange” — a fitting name for the future.
Give it a try
The energy and innovation this and other locations create are outstanding. Give it some thought and if nothing else stop in to CoCo — an amazing historical space that is positioned to make an impact for future generations similar to what it did for past generations.
