As debates about the opportunities and challenges of the collaborative economy become ever more polarised, we have paid insufficient attention to how collaborative platforms can create social and environmental impact. On November first, Pieter participated in ShareLab. The most-needed event organized by Nesta, where 200 policymakers, entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers gathered to better understand how public services, civil society and the private sector can engage with, develop and harness collaborative platforms for good.

We looked at areas ranging from finance to healthcare, from education and skills to knowledge and the commons, and from future technology to the role of existing mainstream collaborative platforms.

Pieter presented the story of shareNL and how difficult it can be as a social enterprise to balance out earning money and delivering a positive impact. Here are Pieter's key take-aways:

Door Samantha van den Bos

Dit keer stonden de Culturele Zondagen in Utrecht in teken van (w)ondernemers die de stad mooier, gezonder en leefbaarder maken. Sociaal ondernemers, deeleconomie-platformen, organisaties die erop toekijken dat alle schakels in de waardeketen eerlijk verlopen en sociale verantwoordelijkheden worden opgenomen. Ook de grotere bedrijven die nu investeren in een betere wereld kregen de kans om hun projecten voor te stellen. Van presentaties, workshops, sociale experimenten en theater tot een deeleconomie deelcarrousel.  

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By Pieter van de Glind

Car sharing is growing fast. Sharing economy marketplaces like Snappcar and Mywheels enable every car owner to ‘upload’ their cars on their websites so that neighbours can rent them. Traditionally, innovative car renting schemes like Greenwheels and Car2Go, and more recently, Drivenow and a number of similar initiatives have enabled people to rent cars on-demand in their neighbourhoods. Both the sharing economy platforms and the innovative car renting schemes reduce the need for car ownership. 

Harmen van Sprang was working as a freelance innovation consultant in 2013, when he started going to an informal meet-up called shareNL, which was initiated by the founders of sharing services such as Peerby, SnappCar and Konnektid. His enthusiasm for this emerging field led him to the like-minded Pieter van de Glind, with whom he soon co-founded the eponymous shareNL, an organization working together with city governments, corporates, start-ups and research institutes to achieve a mature sharing economy. Ahead of NRC Live’s Deeleconomie event on 27 October, ImpactHub sat down with Harmen to talk about the benefits, challenges, opportunities and future of the sharing (or collaborative)economy. 

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In samenwerking met de Gemeente Den Haag en de New World Campus organiseerden we een rondetafel rondom Den Haag Sharing City. Vijftien mensen werden uitgenodigd vanwege hun vakgebied, inzichten of ervaring met de deeleconomie. Deze multidisciplinaire groep is het startpunt en de mobilisator voor de verdere verkenning Den Haag Sharing City, die in de aankomende weken en maanden vorm zal krijgen. De dag begon met een korte introductie over de New World Campus, de Haagse broedplaats voor innovatie.

Het was 'full house' op de tweede editie van het shareNL symposium autodelen in Den Haag. Meer dan 220 bezoekers en sprekers uit Nederland én Belgie (dit jaar was de eerste Benelux editie) hadden een volle dag in hun agenda vrijgemaakt voor het onderwerp autodelen. En de feedback: "het had nog langer mogen duren!". Dit laat zien dat autodelen een 'hot topic' is. "Iedereen die er moet zijn, is er." zeiden meerdere bezoekers. Er waren veel autodeel-aanbieders, inclusief zakelijke oplossingen. Zo ontmoetten we MyWheels, Cambio, Drive Now, Dégage, SnappCar, MobilityMixx, FreeToGo, Deelootoo, CarAmigo en meer. Verder was de zaal gevuld met beleidsmakers bij gemeenten en overheid, verhuurders, automerken, belangenorganisaties, bedrijven en adviseurs. Het thema van dit jaar was ‘Driving Change’. 

Een terugblik op het symposium door Ananda Groag.

On-demand apps around the world: Uber just launched one month before my workholiday in Dar es Salaam. It's 475th city who offers the service to its citizens, and of course travelers and the expat community. I saw a promotion code at one of my favorite restaurants which ironically is Ethiopian, called Addis in Dar. With the promocode for a free ride, displayed on a flyer in the 'washrooms', I had to try it! Being a sharing economy (-and on-demand) experience expert this is thrilling news: a Silicon Valley on-demand service here in Dar Es Salaam, where informal and unregulated business practices are still the local standard.

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By Samantha van den Bos
 

Door Lies van den Eijnden, met reactie van Samantha van den Bos

Het is woensdagavond, Pakhuis de Zwijger zit vol met verbijsterde, geïnteresseerde en ontevreden bezoekers. Eén ding is zeker, de documentaire Slapend rijk heeft ons wakker geschudt. In de documentaire wordt een portret geschetst van Amsterdam ten tijden van Airbnb: bewoners voelen zich figuranten in eigen stad, verhuurders verdienen lekker bij en ontmoeten mensen over de hele wereld en slachtoffers moeten hun keuken, douche en woonkamer delen met toeristen. 

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Those of you who keep up with market developments in the ever growing sectors that the collaborative economy is covering by now, have realized that we are approaching a split.  This split is not only manifest in the kinds of platforms that get on the market, you see in the public and academic debate about the collaborative economy as well. 
 
What are we breaking our minds about? While enthusiasts claim that this is just the beginning of major technological disruption, moving towards self-driving vehicles and blockchain enabled home-sharing, just to name a few, critiques become nostalgic. 

Read Paula's insights from her master thesis research on social capital in the collaborative economy...

‘Thank you,’ says a women in tears to a seemingly random group of entrepreneurs. ‘I have been sick for a year and all this time you have supported me with both compassion and money.”

Pieter was at his  first “Broodfonds” (Breadfund), meeting. Gathered with his group of 47 entrepreneurs he had the bi-annual general meeting that turned out to surprise him.

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It’s eight o’clock in the morning as I step of the Thalys in Brussels. I’m still a bit sleepy when I enter the conference room and hear our friend and global policy advisor, April Rinne, give an overview of collaborative economy news from around the world. National governments in Asia are putting it in the agenda. The Chinese government predicts that ten percent of its economy will be collaborative by 2020. Cities in Korea and Japan on their way to become Sharing Cities. Plus the frontrunning role of the Netherlands with Amsterdam Sharing City, the Green Deal Carsharing and its innovative government. And last but not least, Europe. It’s eight o’clock in the morning as I step of the Thalys in Brussels. I’m still a bit sleepy when I enter the conference room and hear our friend and global policy advisor, April Rinne, give an overview of collaborative economy news from around the world. National governments in Asia are putting it in the agenda. The Chinese government predicts that ten percent of its economy will be collaborative by 2020. Cities in Korea and Japan on their way to become Sharing Cities. Plus the frontrunning role of the Netherlands with Amsterdam Sharing City, the Green Deal Carsharing and its innovative government. And last but not least, Europe.

Read Pieter van de Glinds' key learning points from his trip