Last week, your research council and i3 group convened for a joint meeting to discuss the credit union system’s research and innovation priorities in Portland, Oregon. What follows is a summary of the meeting and some thoughts on potential next steps.
The i3 portion of the meeting presented 7 new ideas for credit unions to consider as they shape their future innovation portfolio. A brief summary of these ideas can be found here, and a more in-depth view of the ideas will be posted later this week.
The research council portion of the meeting provided an opportunity to vet proposed research ideas and review projects in progress.
- First, Paul Hazen, president/CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association shared his insights on other cooperatives’ experiences in making membership meaningful. Hazen proposed a potential research project related to how credit uions could implement the idea of patronage refunds.
- Second, Anna Breman, a professor of economics at the University of Arizona provided a concise overview of how behavioral economics interacts with consumer finance. Breman proposed a series of research projects testing behavioral economics theories in the financial education and savings arenas.
- Next, Coro Stranberg, a consultant on corporate social responsiblity pitched the idea that credit unions could take on the ‘sustainability’ banner to effectively differentiate themselves in the financial services marketplace. A potential output of this research idea would be a how-to guide for credit unions to consider as they integrate sustainability into their core strategies.
- Pete Grillo, a Portland entreprenuer, provided the group with some seriously fun brain food on what it takes to succeed in the start-up world.
- Mike Taylor, a lead researcher on Filene’s large-scale collaboration project provided a snapshot of the study’s preliminary results. A final report is due out later this year.
- The Filene Research Fellows participated in an intriguing panel discussion on the current economic situation and future focused ideas which was expertly covered in a previous post. The panel was followed by a roundtable discussion which resulted in a tentative list of ideas to help populate Filene’s future research and innovation portfolio.
Some next steps include further vetting of the research ideas and a formal publication on the innovation ideas. In sum, the short time we spent together in the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon was fast, furious and productive. If you have ideas, thoughts or suggestions to add, please comment below.
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