What Matters

What Matters is a global initiative sustained by the independent, privately owned nonprofit CO-LAB for Future Economics, headquartered in Vienna. Since our official inception in 2023 (and building on more than a decade of pre-fieldwork across industries and perspectives), What Matters has focused on regenerative community economy development in townships and within the informal economy. Long before we became an initiative, this work grew from years of listening, observing, working within a Western-dominated corporate economy, as well as alongside communities. We studied economic systems from multiple angles. What stayed with each of us who are now part of What Matters was a simple but persistent realization: economies are deeply social practices. What Matters emerged from this understanding. Today, What Matters brings together partners from different backgrounds, disciplines, and geographies, united by a shared vision: an economy that serves humanity. What connects us is not a single model or ideology, but a commitment to staying close to reality, asking hard and uncomfortable questions, and doing the slow, relational work that real transformation requires. What Matters is not a project with a fixed endpoint. It is an evolving practice and a long-term commitment to shaping economic systems with care, courage, and intention. We don’t have all the answers. But we hold space for the right, bold, messy, and necessary questions. Real transformation isn’t clean or linear. It’s relational, iterative, messy, and deeply human. So, welcome to the questions, the people, the practice, and the daily work of reclaiming humanity in the economy. Welcome to What Matters Discover our Story, Philosophy, and Theory of Change here and learn more about our holding organization the CO-LAB for Future Economics