“Don’t ask where I am from, ask where I am a local” says Taiye Selasi in her recent TED talk that went viral. Based on her story, Selasi argues that what matters for her identity is where she feels at home, where she can connect and not the nation state that issued her passport. She also says you can feel a local in many places, not just one. This is a feeling we Hubbers know all too well. With Impact Hubs in over 80 locations around the world, we are creating places to feel at home everywhere. It is our vision that every Hubber has a place to feel a local on all continents in all major cities. For this purpose we created the #ImpactHubPassport.

How does it work?

One of the #ImpactHubMembership project‘s goals is to increase the opportunities for member mobility. From now on, if you are an Impact Hub Member, you can go to any of the 15 pilot Impact Hubs (King’s Cross London, Prague, São Paulo, Vienna, Kuala Lumpur, Stockholm, Belgrade, Bucharest, Berlin, Geneva, Munich, Zurich, Rotterdam, Brno, Ostrava), use a coffee area to meet local members, and participate in events you know from home. If you also have a co-working package, you can now seamlessly use it to work in any of the 15 Pilot Hubs. The only thing you have to do is tell the local host you are there and we’ll take care of the rest. We call this the #ImpactHubPassport: your ticket to a home away from home.

Tapping into the local network

Of course a space for meetings or coworking is fantastic, but the real power lies in tapping into the local community. This is why we created passport.impacthub.net. By filling out the form before you go, the local hosts will try to connect you to people you indicate you want to meet, inform you about upcoming events and opportunities in the period you are there and give you some tips and tricks for the city you are about to visit.

The first experiences were greeat

During this first period, we’ve received several members from other Impact Hubs around the world. Between them: Manolo co-founder of Cirklo, a social innovation consultancy based in Mexico; Lukas  founder of “Zum guten Heinrich” a start-up for sustainable lunch menus based in Zurich; Kyra, based in Barcelona, whose passion is to help students make the right choices in their educational lives. Check out other stories on our Tagboard!

What’s happening next with the Passport?

Currently the Impact Hub Passport works for the 15 Impact Hubs that are part of the pilot (Kings Cross London, Prague, Sao Paulo, Vienna, Kuala Lumpur, Stockholm, Belgrade, Bucharest, Berlin, Geneva, Munich, Zurich,Rotterdam, Brno, Ostrava). If you are interested in visiting another Impact Hub, you are usually proudly received, but can’t use your coworking time there. Just send a notification via the form you can find at passport.impacthub.net before traveling to say you are coming. We plan to have all Impact Hubs offering the Passport by the end of 2016. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you whether this is something you like. So please tweet, post, and share on instagram whenever you use the passport by using the hashtag #ImpactHubPassport.

Welcome to the Impact Hub community, a home away from home. Across the globe.