More than 130 international researchers come together to analyse the platform and sharing economy

The sharing economy is a growing phenomenon. New forms of trade via digital platforms, such as Airbnb, Glovo and Uber facilitate the decentralization and free distribution of goods and services between people. The emergence of this type of platform has had both a positive and negative impact on economic and workplace organization, hitting at the heart of traditional activities, such as hospitality and passenger transport, while also potentially presenting an opportunity for economic recovery in a post-COVID-19 world. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, the value of the sharing economy industry could increase to $335 billion globally by 2025, competing with the traditional model on equal terms, with 50% of the market share.

 

The UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business is organizing the Sharing Cultures: 7th International Workshop on the Sharing Economy (IWSE) from 24 to 26 February as an online event in which more than 130 international researchers will analyse different aspects of the sharing economy in a pre- and post-COVID-19 context. The workshop will be opened by the UOC's Vice President for Competitiveness and Employability, Àngels Fitó, along with event co-organizers, the dean of the UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business, María Jesús Martínez-Argüelles, and the faculty's associate dean for research, Julie Wilson, and will include presentations from leading international experts in the field.

Lund University professor Oksana Mont will talk about the sustainability of the sharing economy, its impact on cities and how it has been affected by the pandemic. University of Oxford professor Igor Calzada will examine cyber societies, delving into issues such as urban freedoms, digital rights and cybercontrol in the context of smart cities that can collect citizens' data using artificial intelligence and the platformization of the economy.

Goethe University professor Lizzie Richardson will look at how the platformization of the economy is not exclusively part of capitalism and discuss its potential to coexist alongside other organizational forms of economic activity linked to the sharing of goods and services. Mayo Fuster, principal investigator of the Dimmons reseach group, will reflect on how the recent expansion of this economy is evolving in parallel with an increase in the unequal distribution of care work and gender-based violence against women.

The event, which is being organized as part of the UOC Faculty of Economics and Business' 25th anniversary celebrations, will include a programme of 70 parallel sessions held over the course of the three days in which a variety of researchers will share their knowledge and research on the economic and social impact of the sharing economy before, during and after the pandemic. They will focus, among other topics, on its impact in relation to businesses in the accommodation, hospitality and transport sectors, the environment, the digital and labour transformation and gender and class issues.

This seventh IWSE event is in itself a testament to the increasingly well-established research in the field of the sharing economy – following previous successful events in Utrecht (2015; 2019), Paris (2016), Southampton (2016), Lund (2017) and Mannheim (2018). This year's event is being hosted by the UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business as part of its cross-disciplinary, strategic project on the sharing economy and in collaboration with the Dimmons research group as the organizers of a parallel session on cooperativism and digital platforms. 

 

This UOC research supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all, 9, build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, 10, Reduce inequality within and among countries and 11, make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.