#16 "Our coworking space is moving from a low tech to a high tech environment" - ImpactHub Vienna

Barbara Inmann is the managing director of ImpactHub Vienna.

The coworking space, which a.o. hosts the HQ of the global ImpactHub network (more than 100 non for profit coworking spaces and communities across the globe), and is one of the important coworking players within the Austrian coworking scene.
In order to rapidly pivot due to the Covid-19 crisis, ImpactHub Vienna partnered up with one of its tenant, an agency operating online streaming for the movie industry, to equip permanently its event room with the right caption and sound materials.

The coworking space had no tech people on its own payroll. They had to learn fast. And likely with a long term vision.

The digital streamin agency has an interest in the partnership as well, as they do not need to rent rooms elsewhere to shoot for their other clients. The equipment is installed.

"What we saw in the last weeks, during the lockdown, and also now with the re-opening, we see the need for more blended versions of event and meeting going offline and online", says Barbara Inmann.
Impact Hub Vienna will sell the service as well as the agency does, and they will share the revenues.
So far, meetings and events is still limited in terms of capacity, in Austria. Only mini-groups are coming. The demand for coworking remains low for the hot desking. Every week, the demand is a bit higher, but mainly the demand for the private offices has picked up back.

The Hub network is not only a coworking space, it organizes a lot of workshop on social entrepreneurship, especially. ImpactHub can rely on some other sources of revenues, such as their social entrepreneurship incubation services.
"The world is changing. There is a lot of thirst for even more sustainability. Small Businesses are looking to heal and re-starts, and this is the opportunity to adapt people's business models, values and approaches, for the new post-Covid19 era. This is an opportunity in which the whole ImpactHub international network is involved. We will work on setting up new program with partners, such as local governments."
It was an area on which the ImpactHub community was engaged. The crisis is now accelerating the process. In the same time small organizations have been hardly hit and need to re-boot themselves.

ImpactHub has spots in Venezuela and other countries in South America, in Africa... The support is different according to the countries.

"We are lucky to be in Austria, from that perspective, for instance. But we all take part in the reflection on how to redesign the model around the space", explains Barbara Inmann. "Tech and digitization is definitely the hottest topic now. There is also a rethinking on : should the products and services mainly be built around the physical space. This is really a question we are deeply investigation now."
"The whole society will become more blended. Even myself, I work more from home for the moment. This new ways of working and learning, we will see more and more a online layer for the coworking space. We had hosted lunches and coffee breaks during the lockdown, even with members of other ImpactHub spaces in other countries. This could be an opportunity."
The hosting of the group and people will be a very relevant topic in the future, thinks Barbara Inmann.