8th-14th June 2016 at Candili, Greece
All it takes is one good example to change the world.
Where some people see crisis, we see an opportunity to
re-imagine how we live, work and play in the 21st century.
Greece is facing many social, economic and environmental challenges. Euboea IO seeks to catalyse the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of the local Greek community, with the support of a global network. Together, we can demonstrate that a new regenerative economy is possible.
We will start by partnering with existing landowners and using their estates and infrastructure to host a dynamic and visionary events program. This will enable us to demonstrate demand, establish local partnerships, build credibility with funders and show that we know what it takes to create transformational places, ventures and events.
Our Idea in 30 seconds...
Cities are becoming super expensive.
Villages and rural areas are being abandoned.
A new generation of nomadic, digitally savvy
creative professionals and entrepreneurs is emerging who want to design and live their
lives in fundamentally different ways to
previous generations.
Our mission is to provide these entrepreneurs and creative professionals with a genuine alternative to urban life by inviting them to work with us to transform abandoned rural locations into smart villages. Today, we have an opportunity to not only imagine the future we want, but to actually built it, one smart village and dream space at a time. Our first location will be in the region of Euboea, Greece.
Our Vision
The guiding purpose of Euboea IO is to build a more conscious and collaborative world.
We face growing economic, social and environmental challenges. The only way forward is to listen, innovate and continuously re-make our world. Our vision is to create a dream space on the beautiful and biodiverse Region of Euboea in Greece for the world's makers, entrepreneurs and artists to call their home.
Imagine a place that combines a festival venue, co-working space, eco-resort and small residential village. We will be able to host a wide range of retreats, learning programmes and micro-festivals as well as provide live/work studios for some of Europe’s leading entrepreneurs and startups. We believe that Greece, given it’s natural beauty, warm climate and it’s current economic and refugee crises, is a perfect location for demonstrating our new model for economic and cultural regeneration. In time we also hope to transform the Island of Euboea into one of the world's most culturally diverse and entrepreneurial destinations.
The Location
The Island of Euboea
Euboea is the second largest island in Greece. We have access to the Candili estate and Faracla property. The Candili estate currently includes a workshop and studio space, library and commercial kitchen, permaculture garden and x3 swimming pools, plus events space and accommodation for 50+. There is also 10,000 acres of mostly agricultural and productive woodland available on the Candili property.
We are in the process of purchasing a nearby 800 acre Faracla Estate, which is a beautiful, biodiverse, fertile and underdeveloped bioregion. We plan to transform Farakla into a part eco-resort, part festival venue and part entrepreneurial campus. In time, we will also seek to move into building smart homes and neighbourhoods across Euboea.
Faracla Property
Candili Estate
The Plan
Demonstrating a new model for economic and cultural development
Our plan is to use the Candili Estate as a launchpad to facilitate retreats and start planning the transformation of the 800 acre Faracla site into a mixed-use entrepreneurial campus, micro-festival venue and curated eco-resort.
Below are the key facilities we plan to build out at Faracla...
A live work studio and co-working space, which can also be used to host retreats & leadership programmes
A maker-space and building workshop used to design and build semi-temporary facilities
A landscape led micro-festival & eco-resort infrastructure with additional event production services
A smart residential village where residents can build out their dream homes and spaces
Below are the key events & programmes we plan to host...
IO Retreat. Elysion Festival. Landstory Convergence. Birthstory. Archetype Apprenticeships. Vilivo Labs. Futurescape Accelerator. Farmagedon Accelerator. StartupAid Campus.
Exploring new agri-business solutions to regenerate the Greek economy
A one year
design-led conscious business accelerator programme
Prototyping the refugee camp of the future in response to the migration crisis
The Co-Founders
Marcus Letts is a design thinker and event producer who is relocating to Greece in order to project manage the Euboea IO development. He is the founder of One Planet Productions and Elysion Fields, as well as being a co-founder of Landstory IO.
Contact email : marcus@uniteddiversity.coop
Anton Chernikov is the founder of The Exponentials and IO Collective, as well as being a co-founder of Vilivo and Landstory IO. He is a serial entrepreneur who has built and accelerated dozens of social ventures. He has a degree in Architecture from the Bartlett (UCL).
Contact email : anton@exponentials.co.uk
LOCAL PARTNERS
PAULA SWARTZ
IOANNA THEODOROU
Our Partner Network
Local Support
Local & Worldwide Partners
Greece is facing many social and economic challenges. Euboea IO seeks to catalyse the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of the local Greek community, with the support of a global network.
We have already engaged a multi-skilled team of local co-producers, who will be managed and coordinated by One Planet Productions. We have mapped local expertise in the following areas; architecture, construction, filming, music & sound engineering, event production, food production & permaculture, hospitality & culinary arts.
Startup Aid
Landstory IO
IO Collective
Startup Boat
Reload Greece
Tangentfield
Stagones
More Than Shelters
unMonastery
Free and Real
Iliosporoi
The Kapa Network
P2P Lab
Organization Earth
United Diversity
The Prosperity Exchange
Earth Sky Lab
Enspiral
Our Inspiration
Who are we learning from...
Summit Series, Powder Mountain
Downtown Project, Las Vegas
Hooke Park, Architects Association
Burning Man, Black Rock City
Y Combinator, Silicon Valley
Enspiral, New Zealand
POC21, France
Earth Sky Lab, Portugal
Why?
Today, we have an opportunity to not only imagine the future we want, but to actually built it, one neighbourhood and community at a time.
A new collaborative, pro-social economy is emerging. Leaders in every industry and corner of the world are beginning to wake up to the fact that business, society and environment are interconnected and that many of the systems and institutions that we have today have become too big and are no longer fit for purpose. We are also beginning to see the transformational potential of exponential technologies that enable us to spread ideas, prototype solutions and inspire action like never before. Our vision for Euboea IO is to contribute to and accelerate this inevitable paradigm shift towards a more conscious and collaborative world. We want to provide a home to the entrepreneurs, artists, activists, builders and makers who want to build our world in new and inspiring ways.
Why it matters.
How?
Strategic Advantages
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Our Vision. By combining the concepts of a festival venue, entrepreneurial campus, eco-resort and small residential village we can create a truly unique and commercially viable development.
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Our Strategy. We are adopting a MVD (minimum viable development) approach, where we start with building out semi-temporary structures and spaces in order to host events, retreats and micro-festivals on the site.
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Our Experience. We have a proven track record in running micro-festivals, building multi-stakeholder communities and accelerating startup businesses from the ground up.
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Our Networks. We have strong networks and connections to influencers within Greece and internationally who are aligned with our vision.
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Our Site. Greece is the ideal location and we have a site ready to go, with access to local support, facilities and knowledge.
Roadmap
We will start with two proof of concept events
1) IO retreat on the Candili estate in June 2016 (8th-14th);
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5 day immersion for 40 participants, 5 facilitators, 3 ‘rainmakers’ and 2 media producers.
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Request for access relating to masterplanning and business model canvassing.
2) Insight weekend in October 2016.
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Presentation of proposal for Farakla LLP.
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Leasehold to be agreed ahead of 2017.
IO Retreat
DATES : Wed 8th - Tue 14th June. Also an option to extend with 1 or 2 more days of decompression.
IO is an entrepreneurial experiment designed to re-imagine how we live and work together together in an increasingly complex, interconnected and ever-changing world. Through the IO experiment we will research, curate and test out a variety of group processes, organisational structures, communication tools and event formats. We will also undertake ambitious collaborative projects and adventures together. And finally, we will document our journey and open source our learning.
What is an IO?
Architectural Concepts
(work in progress)
