Smart is the largest cooperative group of freelancers and entrepreneurs in Europe. It is the story of a pragmatic approach born in 1998: the construction of responses to needs of workers who want to exercise an activity of their choice and benefit from the best social protection available.

Created in Belgium in 1998 to support artists and broadly creative and cultural workers, today Smart is open to freelancers of all sectors and activities and represents a turnover of over 200 million euros in Europe. It is established in 9 countries and nearly 40 cities and accompanies more than 30,000 people each year.

With Smart, freelancers manage their activities autonomously. They find their customers, decide on the amount to invoice, and act independently. They have access to invoicing tools (in some countries, through software), meaning that Smart takes care of invoicing the members' clients, with an upfront payment guarantee. Members may obtain an employment contract from the cooperative based on their freelance income and get access to the same social security benefits as regular employees. Members can concentrate on their creativity and customers while Smart is responsible for making all the social and tax declarations arising from their activities. Smart also provides freelancers with a range of other mutualized services such as legal assistance, insurance cover, information, trainings, legal advice, a social professional network, and co-working spaces.

Smart is a shared enterprise made up of freelancers who decide to join forces to practice their profession by pooling a set of services and tools necessary to develop economic activities while reducing the risks inherent to any project. Rather than each creating their own structure, they use the shared enterprise, which is the common legal, administrative, and insurance vehicle used by all its members to act economically: invest, buy, hire staff, produce, or sell.

Smart is a cooperative open to all those who need it. Whatever the profile of its users (artists, freelancers, SMEs, collectives...), whether they wish to provide services one day or to develop their activities in a sustainable way, whether they plan to employ staff, whether they consider making major investments, and whatever their sector of activity.

Links: http://www.smart.coop

Smart Coop is a freelancers' cooperative that was initially created in Belgium in 1998 as a non-profit organization and is expanding in 9 European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden) with more than 100,000 members. Smart as a social enterprise for freelancers mutualizes resources to provide services and support.