Earlier this year, we joined the OuiShare Fest in Paris to learn more about the collaborative economy. We were thrilled to be invited as finalists in the OuiShare Awards – with 127 entries from 31 countries, competition was certainly intense – and totally blown away when Common Libraries was voted one of five winners! We’ve since benefited from an intensive 5-day accelerator programme organised by the terrifically supportive OuiShare team. During a packed week in Paris, we worked closely with sharing economy entrepreneurs from Copass, Guerrilla Translation, Sofa Concerts and Symba. We quizzed some outstanding mentors to help shape our forward plans, participated in broad-ranging workshops to learn more about collaborative governance and community development, and even spoke to Parisian business students about our MakerKit prototyping work. We’re incredibly grateful to the OuiShare community for organising such an enriching learning experience – and, look forward to collaborating over the months ahead.