Edgar Kampers

Edgar Kampers is a political scientist and a leading authority on complimentary currencies, consumer behaviour change and local economies. He is a member of the Social Trade Organisation (STRO) which works on currency innovation in Latin America and Europe, and he is the co-director of Qoin, an Amsterdam-based consultancy on complementary currencies, currently active in five countries.

In the past, Edgar was director of the NU-incentive card (NU-spaarpas), an experimental incentive programme. It was set up as a European demonstration project of the municipality of Rotterdam, the Rabobank and Barataria (now Qoin). 10,000 inhabitants of Rotterdam joined, earning points by separating their waste, shopping at one of the 100 participating local shops and by buying green and fair trade products. The points could be redeemed for sustainable goods and services, public transport tickets and culture. Target groups were normal consumers, shops and governmental services.

His other past positions include: assisting several North West European cities in the introduction of payment and reward schemes for businesses and citizens; a report on monetary models to connect citizens to post-Kyoto for the Dutch Ministry of Environment (VROM); developing art based money in the European Banking on Culture project; the European demonstration project Supply and Demand in the 3rd system for DG Employment; team manager Climate and Economy for the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment; researcher on complementary currencies; coordinator of LETS-link The Netherlands.