Picture this: A Startup swap-meet where the entry fee is your knowledge.

Collective intelligence has grown up in the digital age.

From its humble roots in crowdsourced ideas and small-scale think tanks, the ability for thousands of people around the world to tackle a single issue is one that’s changing the way that thought and knowledge are generated.

However, the online realm comes with its own set of unique drawbacks, and the one that’s felt the most is without a doubt the complete loss of face-to-face interaction.

Which is why it’s time for the collective intelligence industry to look to the past and create its own specialised physical forum for the good of its future.

But in a world where long-standing events are shutting down every year due to lack of interest, an innovative solution must be found to make the concept work.

The proposal is simple, an event where the attendees run the show and the only currency exchanged is the knowledge that they bring.

The immediate problem, however, is that traditional event parameters would no doubt fail to take hold in the world of collective intelligence. Therefore, a new way of doing things must be found in order to achieve a formula that works.

Add to this that commercial interests are also all too often intertwined with the provision of knowledge, blurring the lines between altruism and self-interest.

The challenges are clear, with cost and structure being the key barriers to entry, both of which are issues that are easy to point out but far more complex to solve.

However, addressing these issues is essential to getting a concept like this off the ground, and this process begins with redefining the meaning of ‘cost’.

Collective intelligence is founded on the core principle of generating and sharing knowledge

Rather than working the room and arriving at a sum that everyone agrees on, cost should instead be removed entirely from the equation.

Collective intelligence is founded on the core principle of generating and sharing knowledge, which makes knowledge itself the perfect currency for…