With about 19,000 (Global Coworking Survey) of their kind, coworking spaces now have their presence in every corner of the world. Although they belong to different companies, they represent the same model of work culture. According to the survey, nearly 1.7 million active members are working in these shared office spaces which is a staggering 0.6 million more than last year. This is just one of the several factors that demonstrate how the concept is growing. Just as the rise in numbers, the demands of office space seekers are also evolving. To keep up with the demand, and remain appealing as evolved workspaces, coworking platforms are incorporating aspects that would completely transform how they would look like in 5 years.
There are three core aspects that would lead coworking spaces towards having a new look.
- Industry-based Support
In the current time, although there has been a lot of change in what they presented over the years, coworking spaces continue to offer office spaces for rent as their core products to all kinds of businesses. Amenities, location, conveniences and whatever networking scopes that come with it are also put forward as selling points. However, that seems to be changing in the near future. Especially because of certain industries that are growing and looking for workspaces that also offer asset support. IoT based startups are one of the groups that would contribute heavily to this change. For example, they have already started to hunt for product testing spaces, laboratories (with or without equipment) of a reasonable size, and specifically dedicated workrooms for themselves. What we are seeing here is not a customization that we generally understand, rather a specialization of the coworking office spaces let for rent traditionally.
- The Mode of Collaborations in R&D
Presently, to a large extent, coworking spaces are carefully creating collaborative atmospheres in small scales within their client bases. This is going to go through a drastic change in near future. Nowadays, big corporations are eyeing to leverage the scopes these social workspaces create. Therefore, coworking spaces could find themselves doing an additional job by finding innovative teams for the big companies soon. Who better than the startups which are looking for investments to work in a semi-independent manner? This would create a lot of opportunity in the R&D sector. The rate might vary in different areas of production, but overall every sector would heed a new equation where innovative thoughts would be valued more than ever. This would also lead to more interaction between professionals belonging to different backgrounds, and they would be exposed to new technologies- which for sure would produce good results for everyone.
- Physical Appearance
Not only the functionality and broadened scope or specialization would define the new look of the coworking spaces but also their physical appearances. This, however, is going to be a continuity of what we have been seeing over the years in these nomadic creative working environments. Without a doubt, the imaginative concepts behind some jaw-dropping looks have played a major role in the popularity of coworking spaces all over the world. And there is no reason why that would stop. Funky lavishing interiors would not only have more impressive displays but also the coworking platform might totally go outside of the walls. Similarly, prime business locations would retain their importance, but that does not mean coworking spaces would not move to remote yet touristic areas. Therefore, the presence as well as the appearances of these shared office spaces will touch upon new heights.
Given what transformations have taken place in only one year in the coworking industry, to calculate the extent of changes in next 5 years is never easy. However, these three aspects would be the in the driver seat in giving a new look to coworking spaces.