REC (real economy currency) is a social currency created as a method for channelling public expenditure towards the local economy: 533 families that live in the Besòs area of Barcelona spend 25% of the MIS (Municipal Inclusion Support) payment using RECs in local, independently managed businesses. As a result, the local multiplier effect of the public spending has increased by 54% within the first year, coproducing an additional public policy in supporting the local economy.

The following videos present the concept of REC (video 1) and use (videos 2-4: payment in REC, collection of REC, and exchange to EUR) 

Mesensei is a community empowerment framework. It’s software engine is used by communities such as Tapiola High School (Finland), Dare to Learn Festival of Rethinking Learning (Finland), The Children and Youth Foundation Finland, Finnish Institute of Public Management, and University of Cambridge (UK) to build their own community platforms. A specifically interesting case is the Village of Giampilieri (Sicily, Italy), where Mesensei works with the villagers to create an app to bring the village out of isolation and save lives in the future. Primarily, the app helps the community to organise food festivals, but it also doubles as an early warning system about an imminent land slide and automates the mobilisation of evacuation volunteers.

In the video, Tuukka (Co-Founder) describes the case of Mesensei.