The new economy is growing from below

The words came from Mrs. Ellinor Ostrom, last year`s Nobel-prize winner in economics, who recently participated in the “Rework the world”-summit held in Leksand, a small town in the heart of Sweden. Rework the World is an open initiative in response to the confluence of the ecological, economical and financial crises.

It aims to boost viable ventures that drive sustainability, create green jobs and point to a new way forward. It is developed in a partnership of YES Inc, with its youth-led networks in 55 developing countries, and the Tällberg Foundation, with its high level global networks of decision makers.

The vision is to have two million young people engaged in meaningful work through financially sustainable employment opportunities by 2012. Meaningful work can be created by

- Identifying the best ideas and practical ventures through a large set of smaller and larger regional workshops

- Connecting these ideas with necessary resources (regional stakeholders, international partners and investors)

- Convincing business leaders and decision makers to think differently and engage them in the dynamic change that is required to tackle the ecosystem-crises.

But back to Mrs. Ostrom. According to her a variety of inventions and ideas at grassroots-level is the key to a better world when it comes to global challenges such as climate change and poverty. The diversity of ideas makes things happen rather than one single breakthrough solution. One idea for example is to find new financing mechanisms to spur green entrepreneurship in developing countries.