Function: Co-Working refers to a development in the field of new forms of work. Self-employed people, freelancers and start-ups, often from different industries and with different business models, work in open community spaces and jointly use a local office infrastructure. Co-Working Spaces provide workplaces and the associated infrastructure on an hourly, daily or monthly basis.

Advantages: Co-Working Spaces offer opportunities in local networking, knowledge exchange and innovation promotion. Workers benefit from the open, communicative culture, interaction with other specialists and companies and networking opportunities. From an entrepreneurship point of view, the diversity of the actors creates an excellent breeding ground for the exchange of ideas and an open innovation culture. Accordingly, they are often used as platforms for start-ups. In addition to the innovation- and performance-enhancing aspect of networking, co-working spaces are inexpensive and flexible ways for users to benefit from professionally equipped office space and to move their place of work closer to their own homes, thus reducing commuter traffic.

Examples: Around 200 offers in Switzerland: the best known are e.g. Technopark Zurich/Winterthur, ImpactHub Zurich and Geneva, Urbanfish Coworking Bern, La Forge (EPFL Innovation Park) Lausanne, Association Hackuarium, Renens