About the Cooperation Project

Problems of health care, economic development,
political and interpersonal conflict, environmental sustainability, resource allocation, disaster relief, urban planning, civil society, democratic governance, technological innovation, intellectual property, public education—the most critical problems of our time—involve social dilemmas and institutions for collective action that are not yet well-understood.

Evidence from biology, sociology, economics,
political science, computer science, and psychology suggest the
feasibility of building an interdisciplinary framework for
understanding cooperation. Because of institutional specialization, a program of cooperation studies will not happen without purposeful action. In order to catalyze the growth of this enterprise, the Cooperation Project has created:

• An open, shared, knowledge base of insights and resources
  relevant to cooperation and collective action: the Knowledge Commons
• Several visual maps for customized navigation of the
  cooperation studies landscape
• A university course with publicly available lecture
  videos and readings
• A workshop and guidebook for re-perceiving the role of
  cooperation in business and the technologies that enable it
• The beginnings of a social network of cooperation
  researchers 
  

The Cooperation Project has convened expert workshops, published a syllabus, launched online discussion communities, compiled reports, created and published video lectures, and built software
prototypes—the beginnings of a Cooperation Toolset. Now we
seek to:

• Test and refine these instruments through workshops and
  further research.
• Attract the best minds in cooperation-related disciplines
  to help.
• Learn how practitioners can use the knowledge and tools
  in their domains.
• Make these resources public and invite broad
  participation.