Sharing Economy in Europe – Opportunities and Challenges

Authors: Łukasz Dąbroś, Matija Damjan, Valentina Franca, Janja Hojnik, Ana Jereb, Tomi Jurman, Jan Klesla, Primož Rojac, Mateusz Sabat, Nana Šumarada Slavnić, Katja Vizjak, Ana Vlahek, Petra Weingerl

Editor: Janja Hojnik

Supported by Zavod14

Year: 2018

Business models consistent with the sharing and collaborative economy concept are based on the philosophy of access-based consumption where, instead of buying and owning things, consumers want access to goods and prefer to pay for the experience of temporarily accessing them. A recent study shows the five main sectors of the collaborative economy (peer-to-peer finance, online staffing, peer-to-peer accommodation, car sharing and music video streaming) hold the potential to lift their global revenues from around EUR 13 billion today to EUR 300 billion by 2025 (PwC: 2015).

However, it is important to assure that this modern, technologically-driven way of doing business is appropriately regulated so as to control the associated hazards while enabling the industry to flourish. At the same time, regulation must leave enough flexibility to avoid the law restricting technological progress. As the industry and consumers become ever smarter, the
regulatory solutions need to keep pace and strike the right balance between safety, liability and competition on one side and innovation and flexibility on the other.