Collaborative Innovation: A shared discourse within Phnom Penh’s co-working community?

Abstract: This paper explores the existence of a shared community involving the members, users and organisers of three collaborative work spaces located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Situated as part of an emergent global phenomenon, these spaces, despite having notable differences, share many important features and are, I argue, part of a knowledge exchanging cluster of grassroots entrepreneurialism and innovation-oriented organisations, groups and events in the Phnom Penh area. I explore this cluster as a community in two ways: firstly through the mapping of a knowledge architecture locating the spaces and their actors as nodes within a flow of relationships and activities, secondly, via a networked ethnographic inquiry tracing these flows to actors within the network through qualitative research methods. In doing so I reveal the degree to which there exists a shared community perceived by the users and organisers of these spaces as well highlighting potential opportunities for greater sharing of knowledge, ideas and experience. The paper finds that though a nascent community does exist, there is still significant variance in the levels of cognisance of this community by the different actors as well as in the approach to its engagement. Despite this, there remains, in large part, a shared set of goals and values paving the way for future community collaboration.