Artificial Intelligence + Basic Income = Canadian Innovation
AI threatens to end many jobs, but a basic income could ease the burden. Canada should lead this new frontier in improving human well-being.
A BIG LOCAL BASIC INCOME: PROPOSAL FOR A LOCALLY-LED BASIC INCOME PILOT IN ENGLAND
To access the proposal and press coverage, click here.
“At a glance:
- This report outlines a proposal for a basic income micro-pilot. This proposal is the result of two years of community consultation in Central Jarrow and the Grange area of East Finchley.
- Grange Big Local in East Finchley and Big Local Central Jarrow have led two years of community consultation to design a basic income pilot in their areas.
- Community consultation, supported by Basic Income Conversation and Northumbria University, found substantial support for basic income pilots. A combination of door-knocking, workshops, roundtables and surveys found that the majority of respondents felt both that it was a good idea in principle and that it would be good to run pilots in their local areas.
- The pilot would also recruit a control group. This group would not receive basic income payments but would do questionnaires, focus groups and interviews as part of the pilot evaluation to understand the difference in experience between people receiving a basic income and people not. The people in this group would be paid for their time.
- Validated evaluation measures for the pilot would be drawn from the Northumbria University team’s existing protocol resource. This process would involve co-production with communities. We therefore do not propose a specific research protocol for evaluation of impacts of the basic income pilots at this stage, but the existing protocol resource provides clear indications of robust methods. A mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods that have been validated and received ethical approval at universities is recommended.
- All outputs should be produced in consultation with community members, with reports designed to be as accessible as possible. It may be advisable to include design costs for easy-read versions of reports. Coauthorship should be offered to community members providing substantive input. All formal community involvement should be remunerated at Northumbria University research assistance rates (currently £17.19 per hour though in equivalent vouchers where appropriate for DWP purposes) or on the basis of in-kind support.”
Webinar on the Mumbuca, Maricá Basic Income Pilot’s Digital Currency – 30 June 18:00 BST
In Maricá, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, the creation of a local currency in combination with a Basic Income as a Solidarity Economy is creating community wealth.
A webinar will be take place on Friday, 30 June, at 6pm BST organized by the Jain Family Institute (JFI) in the USA about the Basic Income trial in Maricá in Brazil.
Join JFI for a presentation and discussion on the mumbuca, a digital complementary currency introduced in Maricá, Brazil, as part of the city’s Solidarity Economy Program, as well as an interactive visualization of the mumbuca economy: We Take Mumbucas: Charting the Complementary Currency that’s Transforming a Brazilian City
You can register for the webinar by clicking here.
You can read the report about the use of the local currency Mumbuca, in Portuguese, by clicking here.
About 25% of the poorer section of the local population of 200,000 inhabitants receive a Basic Income in this local currency.
Summary of Conference on Welsh Basic Income Pilot
The Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) were commissioned by Welsh Government officials, to hold a conference for academics working in the fields of basic income and children’s social care. The conference was held virtually on December 15th 2022 and was well attended by 70 academics.
WCPP has made available a highlights pack (see links at the end of this article) during the week commencing Monday 19th June 2023. The highlights pack includes
- An overview of the event
- Links to videos of keynote speakers, including video messages from
- the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip and the Deputy Minister for Social Services
- An outline of the contributions from speakers including a video recording
- A summary of the questions to speakers
- Discussion
- Resources and biographies
Purpose of event:
The purpose of the event was to enable the Welsh Government to draw upon the best available research evidence about the implementation and impact of basic income schemes and wider support for care leavers. The event aimed to provide opportunities for discussion of;
- The Basic Income for Care Leavers in Wales pilot and the evaluation that the Welsh Government has commissioned;
- Key lessons from other research on basic income schemes;
- Ways to support or strengthen the Welsh Government evaluation; and
- Additional policies that could complement the Basic Income Pilot Scheme and increase its impact.
Speakers:
Chaired by Professor Steve Martin (WCPP), the conference included contributions from
- Sir Professor Michael Marmot
- Professor Sally Holland, David Westlake (CASCADE),
- Professor Guy Standing,
- Dr Miriam Laker – Oketta (Give Directly),
- Hannah Webster (Royal Society of Arts),
- Dr Eleanor Ott (Centre for Evidence and Implementation).
Discussion:
The conference was positively received by the academic community and provided Welsh Government Officials with insight from academics on the approach to evaluating the pilot. On the whole the audience were very positive both towards the pilot and the research and evaluation programme supporting it. It provided a strong endorsement of the approach which the Welsh Government is taking.
Key messages included the need for greater qualitative data and the benefit of creative and participatory methods. This was planned and has since been addressed by adding a new in-depth qualitative research using ethnographic methods module to the evaluation contract.
Other key points included the need for meaningful and ethical participation, this has been at the forefront of the evaluation since its inception. Furthermore, delegates pointed to the importance of building a legacy for the evaluation and using information that is already available to researchers. Useful pointers and personal connections were achieved and Welsh Government Officials are working with the evaluators (CASCADE) to provide a longer term research framework.
For an article on Five Key Takeaways from the conference, click here.
To download a Powerpoint presentation complete with live links to multiple resources including videos of speaker presentations, click here.
To view a pdf of the Powerpoint presentation without live links, click here.
Basic Income North 2023 Conference
The Basic Income Society and How to Get There
1:15-4.15 PM, Thursday 20 July
Event link is here
Update July 12: We have changed our plans for the conference because of the rail strike on Thursday 20th July. We will postpone the in-person Basic Income North conference and instead have a Basic Income North symposium from 1.15pm to 4.15pm on the same day. This is to be followed by a series of 30-minute fortnightly ‘deep dive’ conversations with experts on different aspects of Basic Income later in the year. Speakers include Andy Burnham, Kate Pickett and others. More info can be found here and the schedule of the day:
UBI Lab Manchester and the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) North have been working hard to put together a fantastic programme for this year’s conference. Speakers who are joining us so far include:
- Mayor Andy Burnham – mayor of Greater Manchester
- Councillor Astrid Johnson – Leader of the Green Group on Manchester City Council
- Professor Kate Pickett – author of The Spirit Level
- Jonathan Williams – UBI Lab Wales, who has been involved in the Care Leavers’ BI Pilot
- Dr Simon Duffy – Citizen Network
- Caroline Richardson – Spartacus
- Dr Elliot Johnson – Northumbria University
- Maddy Radcliff – Musicians’ Union
- Dr Dave Beck – Salford University
- Laura Bannister- Equal Right
It will be a fascinating day looking at Basic Income and the climate, homelessness, ethical business, disability, the unions and more. The day will evolve from more theoretical discussions on UBI to how we can make it a reality. We will hear about the pilots both running and proposed in Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England.
BIEN Congresses
The 24th BIEN CONGRESS in Maricá & Niterói – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 27-29 August 2025
Linkedin, Instagram, X – biencongress25 (at) gmail [dot] com
BIEN2024 was August 29–31 (Pictures and more coming soon)