Description of organisation

Poligon is a coworking space and a training ground for creative communities and self-employed individuals operating in fields of creative economies, social entrepreneurship and culture. Poligon is more than just a coworking space, as it nurtures a vibrant community that collaborates and offers support and resources for young people who are using and sharing our premises. Poligon enables its members to develop their ideas and share positive energy and inspiration through reaching their goals, so the community learns and grows together. At our space in Ljubljana, we operate two specialized labs and we have also created a special program of events. All workshops and activities are offered to our residents and general community for free, aiming to help young people increase their knowledge and skills and help them further develop as professionals. Poligon unites communities in Slovenia, operating in fields of creative economy, social entrepreneurship and culture. The initiative was developed as a response to the economic downturn and increasing precariousness of young professionals. Here is a list of Poligon's current active creative initiatives: - Slovenia Coworking initiative (www.coworking.si, www.facebook.com/sloveniacoworking) - an initiative for the promotion and development of coworking and new creative economy in Slovenia. Since the launch of the initiative, we organized over 100 events attended by over 6.000 people. Due to an extensive media coverage, we successfully introduced coworking to Slovenia and it soon became recognized as an important new concept of work and collaboration. The founders have conducted over 80 lectures at various conferences in Slovenia and abroad. Multiple new coworking spaces and initiatives were brought to life in Slovenia and Croatia, as a result of this initiative, giving young people an opportunity to develop skills and widen knowledge, as well as to use their potential and contribute actively to community development. - Slovenia Crowdfunding initiative (www.crowdfunding.si, www.facebook.com/groups/sloveniacrowdfunding) - it was created with an aim to exchange knowledge and ideas and spread expertise and awareness about crowdfunding. These initiatives are centered around new economic models and fundraising on a global scale. In less than 1,5 yearf, we helped over 10 projects become successfully funded via crowdfunding, collecting more than 1,800.000 USD that turned them in successful startups. In collaboration with Regional center of the creative economy, we have conducted over 120 free consulting hours to various projects and startups on how to prepare and execute crowdfunding campaigns. Internationally, we are recognized as team consisting of some of the most experienced crowdfunding experts, since no other initiative has helped to fund as many successful crowdfunding campaigns. Our experience and knowledge enabled us to develop our own methodology on how to prepare and execute crowdfunding campaigns. - Poligon Maker Lab (http://make.land/) - modern maker-lab equipped with digital production machines - 3D printer and other technical equipment, enabling fast prototyping for industrial designers for quality materialization of concepts . It works under the principle "Think global, act local". This workshop includes a photo studio specialized for high-quality production photography, too. - We are also developing "Coworking Visa" program, which will allow coworkers from EU to come work with us in Slovenia. This exchange will also apply to our members who would like to go abroad, too. It encourages cross-boarder collaboration, allowing professionals to broaden their horizons and create international network through collaboration. - Under the title "Poligon Classroom", we are preparing sets of the best lectures and workshops of Slovenian and foreign lecturers relevant to the field of creative industries and social entrepreneurship. These are crucial for the professional development of Slovenia's self-employed creative youth. The classroom will be established in cooperation with Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian creative communities contributing to the re-establishment of creative cooperation in the Balkans. Now, we decided to take part in Erasmus+, particularly EVS, as we wish to share our experience and knowledge. We want to give our contribution to implementation of the program by providing opportunities for young people to improve their employment and career prospects, through development of their skills and competences. Our employees and coworking community are aware of the importance of mobility and exchange of ideas for young person's personal and professional development. We wish to support non-formal learning, active participation, social integration and to make positive impact in our local community. We also wish to raise our own capacity to implement international projects within EU funding programs, improve our management skills and foster regional cooperation.