TCBL HANDBOOKS
TCBL ECOSYSTEM GOVERNANCE – 2018 EDITION
Co-funded by Horizon 2020
TCBL 646133 – HANDBOOK RELEASED AS ANNEX 2 TO D6.10 (TASK 6.5) 30 June, 2018
INTRODUCTION This guidebook presents an update of how the TCBL ecosystem will be structured for long-term sustainability following the completion of TCBL as an EU-funded project in June 2019, following the first edition issued end September 2017. It represents work in progress, based on key developments in the intervening period – platform development, the 2018 Calls, etc. – that provided feedback and suggested modifications to the structure originally proposed. The main changes with respect to the original proposal are: •
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The role of TCBL Associate Enterprise has been broadened to include TCBL Associates, including any business focused on Textiles & Clothing (T&C) but not necessarily in manufacturing. Several options for the legal organisation for the umbrella TCBL community are now listed and under consideration, including but not limited to the aisbl option mentioned in the first edition.
As with the previous edition, this guidebook first identifies the governance elements, based on the communities of each of the four kinds of TCBL Associates. We then identify the main value flows and transaction patterns we see as characterising their relationships. This includes a hypothesis for distinguishing between monetised and in-kind transactions. Finally, options for general governance are set forth, including a foundation-type approach, an AISBL under Belgian law (combining the features of an association with those of a foundation), and a platform co-operative. These proposals are made in due time to allow for a broad discussion involving all the TCBL community. On the basis of feedback and further reflections, an updated version of this document will be published within end 2018 and draft statutes and regulations in early 2019.
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THE TCBL COMMUNITY ECOSYSTEM
ROLES IN THE TCBL ECOSYSTEM The TCBL ecosystem consists of four classes of actors who come together as the overall TCBL community, a fifth element represented for now by the TCBL project partners and to be replaced by a governance structure for long-term sustainability after the project ends. These roles are mapped onto the main activities they carry out, also corresponding to the main elements of the European TCBL project, as shown below.
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Business Labs are the innovation drivers of the ecosystem; they interact with citizens, businesses and research communities at the local level, while providing value to the broader TCBL community in collaboration with other Labs in the form of Lab Projects and Services. TCBL Associates are businesses operating directly or indirectly in the Textile & Clothing sector; they adhere to TCBL through the rolling Calls on the Thela platform (https://thela.cleviria.it/) that will be operational from September 2018;1 TCBL Associates explore new business models in Business Cases and interact with other Associates and TCBL ecosystem roles in more complex Business Pilots.2 Advisors are individual experts in related fields active in the TCBL ecosystem by contributing to Lab activities, providing business innovation support to TCBL Associates, and integration support to Service Providers; in parallel, they coordinate the yearly #TCBL conferences and feed and maintain the Knowledge Spaces (including, inter alia, the TCBL_zine) Service Providers are those who integrate their platforms into the Business Services on the TCBL Open Platform.
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The current set of 227 TCBL Associates have adhered through yearly Calls whose procedure has evolved with each edition in order to define the system that will be operational for the future. 2
A TCBL Associate can also play the role of Lab or Service Provider and may or may not include Advisors in its staff. On the contrary, Labs, Associates and Service Providers are not required to be Associates.
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TCBL Ecosystem Governance – 2018 edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •
TCBL Project Partners manage the dynamics of business model innovation and the ecosystem overall, their role of guidance and brand management will be subsumed by the governance structure that will take over as of end June 2019.
TCBL AS A COMMUNITY OF COMMUNITIES An important insight gained in the course of our work is that the participants in these roles make up four distinct communities, each with their own set of values, models, reference networks, etc. The distinctive feature of TCBL is that these four communities are recognized and respected for their differences, while they all come together as a shared community under the umbrella of the TCBL principles and modes of interaction.
GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES The next step has been to identify the governance structures based on the above community structure, namely the organisation into identifiable groups that can be given a formal role in a structured organisation. For this, there are three main levels: TCBL Associates, the three service providing roles, and the umbrella TCBL level.
In this schema, the three levels are articulated as follows:
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TCBL Ecosystem Governance – 2018 edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs •
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The TCBL umbrella level consists of a lightweight organisational structure that manages the minimum common elements (coordination, TCBL brand, etc.), supported by two external services: one for producing the yearly conference and editing and publishing TCBL documents, videos, etc. and the other for hosting and managing the TCBL Open Platform cloud services. The service level includes the three roles in TCBL whose activities combine to make the TCBL service offer: Labs provide innovation services, Advisors coach, mentor and communicate, and Service Providers provide specific on-line services. Each of these roles has a relatively autonomous governance structure with specific working groups in the TCBL organisation. The TCBL Associates level corresponds to TCBL Associate, who are the ultimate end users of TCBL services. At the same time, they actively contribute to the TCBL ecosystem by engaging in the innovation processes that constantly feed into the definition of the TCBL service offer. TCBL Associates make up the General Assembly which governs the strategic direction for the TCBL umbrella level.
In the following sections, we will first analyse the types of flows between these elements and identify options for an overall governance model.
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2. TRANSACTION PATTERNS IN TCBL One of the main purposes of a governance structure for a complex ecosystem such as TCBL is to support the transaction patterns between the main actors in a stable and sustainable way. Much of the work in the project to date has in fact been to identify the roles that structure these transactions, as described in the previous section, and the balance of exchanges between value and financial flows, as described below.
VALUE FLOWS The schema below shows the main value flows that have been identified within the TCBL ecosystem.
The figure shows how the main value flows are downstream, following a “knowledge to business“ pattern, from the TCBL umbrella level down through the individual service roles to the TCBL Associates engaged in business model innovation. More specifically: •
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At the TCBL umbrella level, the shared community elements – the TCBL brand (and its management), the TCBL Open Platform, and the yearly #TCBL events – provide the defining framework that shapes all the value flows in the ecosystem. In other words, without the TCBL level, individual value transactions between roles lose their systemic impact. The TCBL level is supported in its operations by the two auxiliary functions of the TCBL publishing house and cloud service provider. At the service level: o Advisors receive value from their interaction with Labs and provide value to a) TCBL publications and b) TCBL Associates. Advisors are in fact play a business support role who helping to translate Lab research results into useful innovations for T&C businesses while at the same time helping Labs to follow the evolution of Associates’ needs. o Labs primarily provide value to the TCBL business ecosystem by carrying out Lab Projects and Services defined in their research agenda in collaboration with other Labs and delivered through local action, training, workshops, etc as well as networked Lab events. In addition, Labs can a) enhance the offer and support the use of Service Providers, b) feed the consulting offer of Advisors, and c) produce articles and videos for TCBL events and publications. o Service Providers receive operational value from the TCBL Open Platform and substantial value from the Labs in order to offer value to Enterprises. TCBL Associates provide value to the market as well as to other Associates within TCBL value chains, but as far as the TCBL Ecosystem is concerned they mainly receive 6
TCBL Ecosystem Governance – 2018 edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
value, from: a) Advisors in the form of innovation and business development support, b) Labs in the form of innovation concepts and inspiration of Lab Services, and a) Service Providers in the form of ICT services integrated into the TCBL Open Platform.
MONETISED AND NON-MONETISED TRANSACTIONS Monetised and non-monetised transactions are then essentially specular to value flows and thus from business to knowledge and upwards towards the TCBL level. It is also important to distinguish between the in-kind transactions (shown as dashed arrows) that characterise the “soft” service side of the ecosystem as compared to the monetized transactions to the right.
At the Associates level, the Enterprises are the main “producers” of financial flows, while the Labs are the main “receptors”, as follows: •
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Enterprises feed the financial flows in the TCBL ecosystem by paying for a) usage of platforms and services of the Service Providers, b) consultancy and business support of Advisors, and, to a lesser extent c) research and innovation services of the Labs. It is important to underline that these are all services that a T&C business might normally pay for; the difference with the TCBL ecosystem lies in the coherence and fit of the service offer together with the constant innovation driven by the role of the Labs in the ecosystem as a whole. Service Providers are the main conduit through which a portion of the revenue coming from Enterprises is distributed to the TCBL level for the license to use the Open Platform and its cloud services, as the main source of income for the TCBL level overall. Service providers also provide in-kind services to the Labs through special licensing arrangements. Advisors are the main translators of value produced by the Labs into business development opportunities, for which they are paid by Enterprises. They pay a fee to the TCBL level for their participation and pay in kind (at least partly) to the Labs by advising them on how to steer their research agendas towards effective needs of the industry and by participating in Lab research, innovation and training activities. They are paid by the Enterprises for their services and in kind by the TCBL Publishing House for the free editorial services (videos, publishing, etc.). Labs business models mainly draw on public and private funding related to services rendered to the local community, which in turn are made possible by the fact that they are part of the TCBL network. Their financial flows within the TCBL network are primarily non-monetised (except fora possible affiliation fee and services to TCBL
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TCBL Ecosystem Governance – 2018 edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
participants within their local community), and it is these in-kind contributions that compensate for the value they provide to the ecosystem. Labs thus receive in-kind consulting, research, innovation and training services from Associate Advisors, are offered video and editorial support from the TCBL Publishing House, and use the platforms of the TCBL Service Providers at no cost. In exchange, in order to maintain their status as a TCBL Labs, they contribute to and participate in the yearly #TCBL events, as well as carrying out the other activities foreseen by the Lab framework and regulations. At the TCBL level, the TCBL network entity receives fee revenue from Advisors and Service Providers sufficient to cover the minimum costs of running and maintaining the TCBL network overall. (Associate Labs and Enterprises will pay a symbolic membership fee only.) Revenues from variable income sources such as percentages or royalties from Service Providers and/or the Publishing House will be dedicated to strategic investments in Lab activities and/or platform services. An important cost factor at the TCBL level is the yearly #TCBL event. Significant in-kind contributions are foreseen to make participation at no or marginal cost; event management, video production, and publishing services will be managed by the TCBL Publishing House and participants and speakers brought to the event by TCBL Labs. Exhibition spaces and special events will be paid for by the interested Enterprises.
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3. GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES The proposed governance structure for TCBL, to be established in June 2019, is based on the AISBL (Association international sans but lucratif or international non-profit association) under Belgian law, which has the advantage of combining the features of an association with those of a foundation.
As shown above, the structure includes the formal structures of the TCBL aisbl, two service operators under license/contract, and four assemblies.
TCBL AISBL The TCBL aisbl owns and manages the TCBL brand, manages associate fees and the service operators, and handles the basic operational activities of the network, including the yearly #TCBL events. The TCBL consists of three common structures, in addition to the four assemblies described below: •
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The General Assembly brings together all TCBL Associates and meets yearly to approve the yearly budget and annual report and take decisions with an impact on the TCBL statute. The General Assembly directly elects the President of the Council. The Council is made up of two representatives from each of the Associates’ Assemblies together with the President. The Council meets on a bi-monthly basis, appoints the General Secretary and Treasurer from among its members, decides on the main strategic and operational aspects of the TCBL network, and approves any modifications to the regulations of the Associate Assemblies. The Secretariat is made up of dedicated staff as required for the on-going management of TCBL network affairs, and responds to the General Secretary for operations and the Treasurer for financial management and budgeting.
SERVICES TO THE AISBL TCBL network operations are primarily carried out by two specific services. •
The TCBL Publishing House is licensed to TCBL aisbl, acquiring the right to publish and commercialise all material produced by the network, directly managing advertising and/or other possible sources of revenue derived from the publications. The Publishing House thus carries the editorial management of the TCBL website and the yearly #TCBL events, including graphics, layout, and video editing, under approval of the 9
TCBL Ecosystem Governance – 2018 edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
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TCBL Council and any Scientific and/or editorial boards established by the Council. All TCBL publications are provided free of charge to TCBL Associates. The TCBL Platform Provider provides cloud services, including maintenance of the main platform services such as the web platforms, Single Sign On and other cloud services, and activity and data logs. The Platform Provider operates under the strict guidelines set out by the TCBL Council, and is paid for on a yearly basis with an appropriate service fee.
TCBL ASSOCIATE ASSEMBLIES Four Associate Assemblies provide the specific governance models for TCBL Labs, Advisors, Service Providers, and Enterprises. The Associate Assemblies each draw up a regulation that defines the principles they see fit to apply, including the following common elements: • • • • •
Operationalisation of the TCBL Principles for that category of Associates. Criteria for qualification for the TCBL label under that category of Associates. Means and methods for selection of new members (yearly Calls) as well as means to determine the termination of membership. Rights and obligations with respect other Associates in the same category. Rights and obligations with respect to other categories of Associates.
The starting versions of the regulations of each Associate Assembly will be drawn up by the set of Associates currently within the TCBL Community, with a first draft produced for June 2018 and the final draft in June 2019.
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TCBL Ecosystem Governance – 2018 edition TCBL Handbooks Textile & Clothing Business Labs
DOCUMENT INFORMATION REVISION HISTORY This document is Annex 3 to TCBL Deliverable 6.7, “Value Exchange and Governance Framework version 2”. Authors: Michele Osella (ISMB), Elisa Pautasso (ISMB), Thanos Contargyris (MIRTEC) and Jesse Marsh (Prato). This Annex in particular is written by Thanos Contargyris and Jesse Marsh. REVISION
DATE
AUTHOR
Version 1
25.09.2017
Version 2
29.09.2017
Jesse Marsh Thanos Contargyris Jesse Marsh
ORGANISATION
DESCRIPTION
Prato MIRTEC Prato
First draft for review Final draft incorporating reviewers’ comments
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This deliverable contains original unpublished work except where clearly indicated otherwise. Acknowledgement of previously published material and of the work of others has been made through appropriate citation, quotation or both.
COPYRIGHT This work is licensed by the TCBL Consortium under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, 2015-2016. For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ The TCBL Consortium, consisting of: Municipality of Prato (PRATO) Italy; German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research - Center for Management Research (DITF) Germany; Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB) Italy; Skillaware (SKILL) Italy; Oxford Brookes University (OBU) UK; imec (IMEC) Belgium; Tavistock Institute (TAVI) UK; Materials Industrial Research & Technology Center S.A. (MIRTEC) Greece; Waag Society (WAAG) Netherlands; Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd (TCOE) UK; eZavod (eZAVOD) Slovenia; Consorzio Arca (ARCA) Italy; Unioncamere del Veneto (UCV) Italy; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (HCIA) Greece; Sanjotec - Centro Empresarial e Tecnológico (SANJO) Portugal; Reginnova NE (Reginnova) Romania, Centexbel (CTB) Belgium, Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) France, IAAC (FabTextiles) Spain, Cleviria (Cleviria) Italy, and Sqetch (Sqetch) Netherlands.
DISCLAIMER All information included in this document is subject to change without notice. The Members of the TCBL Consortium make no warranty of any kind with regard to this document, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Members of the TCBL Consortium shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The TCBL project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technology development, and innovation under Grant Agreement n.646133.
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