Participants decided to explore the problem statement submitted by Stephen Marsland:

Is there a place for barter?

It seems likely that money, and hence financial systems, arose from bartering.  How did this happen, how did bartering arise in the first place, and what does it tell us about the modern world/what can we use it for?

The CIIC discussion touched on the foundations of economic activity and exchange, covering the roles of trust, relationships, and the basic challenge of connecting demand and supply, including the associated notion of transaction.

Participants examined how modern communication and software technologies can assist in the process of facilitating economic exchange by way of constructing value cycles without incurring the trappings of highly financialised economics. Multi-party transactions can play a significant role in this context, with the additional benefit of nurturing strong relationships and a shared understanding between economic agents.

Key elements of the discussion, including

• a worked through example that was put together following the unconference,
• the rationale for distinguishing between solving economic problems and financial problems,
• a related analogy that stimulated the discussion of the question “What is value?” at the previous CIIC unconference in September 2015

have been documented in this set of slides.