In recent years, local forms of exchanges between individuals have multiplied. A new type of economic exchange is spreading on the fringes of traditional circuits. Local groceries, short circuits, self-service vegetable gardens, new cooperatives … are illustrations.
These person-to-person links have taken on a new dimension with the use of digital technologies. Internet platforms put you in touch with an individual who offers the product or service you are looking for. All this, outside the usual commercial channels, thanks to the many links woven by the Web.
Perhaps we are living here a new industrial revolution …
With these peer to peer exchanges we enter a collaborative economy.
These platforms use the power of digital technologies to generate private responses to other individuals. They aim at the exchange in the interest of the partners themselves, without one of them gaining more.
They adapt to the current world and amplify mutual aid between neighbors. In doing so, they develop and adapt the will to work together cooperatives of the past. Think of Farmers-Craftsmen, Repair Cafes, Second Hand shops, Community vegetable gardens … Everyone finds his account because new opportunities meet the quality or price offer.
The perspective of these approaches is that everyone wins. Whoever proposes the good or the service finds new outlets. The one who looks for something sees his possibilities of choice multiplied and the platform itself gains in development. The basis of these exchanges is the search for the balance of earnings, the equitable distribution of added value!
It is truly a new economy that emerges as a model of peer-to-peer collaboration, with or without the exchange of money. By making room for people, she questions the excessive aspects of a liberal economy in the exclusive pursuit of profit.
The collaborative economy is based on three principles:
1. Use takes precedence over the property .
Why own each car if it’s to leave it in the parking lot for ¾ of the time? It is more economical, more ecological and more relaxing (no problem of taxes, maintenance …) to share the same vehicle. Shared cars, Co-Carriage illustrate this use.
These practices show the diminishing influence of the property. They reduce consumption. They create a more social economy, where private ownership is no longer the only goal.
2. Sharing is more effective than keeping it to yourself.
There is more in two heads than in one, says the saying. This is constantly being verified in both intellectual and practical domains.
By sharing what you own, you reduce consumption and you participate in a resource management more economical and more respectful of the environment. Thus, new consumer behaviors are set up.
3. It is possible to base even economic relations on trust .
It is because you agree to trust the product and the service offered, that you agree. You postulate that there are non-predatory relationships between humans that are not intended to maximize particular profit. And by going down this path, you activate and strengthen this community of trust. This creates relationships of cooperation that benefit everyone, but especially the weakest.
The collaborative economy opens up new approaches that augur the emergence of a world that is more respectful of people and the planet.
The collaborative economy has several interesting aspects.
- She avoids a series of intermediaries . It is precisely one of his strengths to put the offerer and the claimant in a mutual relationship.
- It is easy to access , fast and efficient. It is often enough just a few clicks to propose or get what you want. Saving time is valuable.
- It plays on a new proximity, initiated by Internet.
Collaborative economy today concerns all sectors.
1. Finances
These platforms allow loans between individuals, peer to peer . They make connections between people wanting to invest their money and others who want to borrow money. This process does not go through the banks. It avoids a series of costs or losses related to their operation. This is called the collaborative finance sector.
In Belgium, Captain Ahab is the first platform to offer indirect contact between private investors and individual borrowers. Stability is one of the advantages of this new system. The combined effects of a known return on investment and the current 100% PROTECT Guarantee hedge prevent volatility.
2. But also culture, equipment, food, transportation, housing, clothing or assistance to people ….
In conclusion
We have further developed here the macro aspect of the collaborative economy, that is to say the putting in contact of individuals via the Internet. This aspect is today in full development and sees new initiatives constantly emerging.
But, as we have already said, there is also a micro aspect, also in full development, which concerns all local initiatives, which forge new links between local suppliers and local applicants.
These two points of view show how much the collaborative economy modifies traditional economic relations, thus opening up prospects for changing the economic system!
