Can we develop a shared definition of the Collaborative Economy?

That is a very well-considered document, thank you for sharing.  As the founder of a private currency network based on the principles of Mutual Credit, I've witnessed the mismanagement of a multitude of barter networks over the years. Here's one significant suggestion, for now: "Transparency" should be included in the definition of Collaborative Economy/Finance/Currency to hold those using those terms to a higher level of conduct than your average LETS operator.  The participants in Collaborative Commerce should be able to see under the hood.  This will prevent the unscrupulous exchange operators who run an exchange deficit, essentially robbing their members, from co-opting the Collaborative moniker.  This holds as true for cryptocurrency exchanges as barter networks if they are to be considered truly Collaborative.  This may help to prevent an abuse of the term Collaborative and the tarnishing of it's reputation. A Collaborative Currency should also be sustainable, unlike the legal tender fiat currencies that poison the mainstream economy with their inherent Usury.  As fiat currency is always loaned into existence with interest, it creates a mathematically-impossible-to-repay debt.  The interest never entered circulation.   It never existed.  The result is that debt-servicing captures a vast amount of our collective productivity.  There is always more debt than currency available which creates something like a game of musical chairs in the marketplace, as people are systematically driven to compete rather than collaborate.  Given an equitable monetary system, sans interest (a la Mutual Credit), a truly Collaborative Economy can be achieved,

This indeed is a great work, quite thorough I must say. It certainly touches on commonly seen/emerging trends in collaboration. And putting it on Quora to collaboratively build the definition is an excellent example of using the power of collaboration. Here are my 2 bits whatever its worth - 1. Under the Key factors, along with Trust and empowerment, there should be basic 'Open mindness' towards people and ideas. Many a times we see there is a trust in the teams but they are just not open minded to new ideas/thoughts and thereby killing the innovation. 2. In Collaborative Pillars section, you might want to consider adding Co-opetition i.e Collaborative Competition: I think the world (especially business or economies) has always seen the way to grab more pie is through competition. Most of the cultures do embress the fact that to compete is the way to succeed. However, we have fast moved from knowledge/info era to social era and now going into collaboration era where gaps between competition and collaboration are reducing and people/companies/brands are joining hands and collaborating in solving bigger problems of the world which otherwise invidually they can't and thereby uplifting the life/economy. Ben Hecht, CEO of Living Cities wrote an excellent article on HBR large scale social changes through collaboration. http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/collaboration-is-the-new-compe/ Another example, for years working separately and for most part competing for creating cure for Cancer, the teams which could not succeed came together on the platform of http://www.standup2cancer.org/dream_teams/  and were able to nail the problem at large in unimaginable short time. So, what I am suggesting is in your research/definition, it might help you consider adding "Co-opetition i.e. Collaborative competition" which fosters healthy cocreation and better economy. I am not opposing competiton per say but mere competition is stressful and at times not healthy. It spreads negativism. However collaborative competition helps involved teams to leverage each other's strengths and create more value or better solution. Being passionate about ideas and collaboration myself, sometime back I spoke at 'ignite event' sharing my views on The Rise of the collaboration era where I talked about creating bigger pie instead of competing for a smaller share! Thoughts are welcome. Please do post the final outcome of your research, would be curious to know your findings.

For me, the Collaborative Economy can only be defined by contrasting it with the existing economic system. 1. By reference to 'price = commodity + profit', the existing economy focuses on profit, the collaborative economy focuses on the commodity. 2. In terms of the balance between vendors and purchasers, the collaborative economy equalises the power between the two groups as everyone can be a vendor. This removes the vendor monopoly and gives purchasers access to a more diverse options. Demand becomes truly elastic. 3. The current vendor monopoly tends to a financial system that encourages debt, which demands more work so as to purchases more commodities in a cycle of never-ending servitude to the system. Collaborative economy is about access rather than ownership, which frees the individual from work. 4. The current system is about competition rather than collaboration. Economics should be a system that frees us from work rather than binding us to more and more work. It should aim to satisfy our needs as quickly and efficiently as possible, opening up opportunities to spend time in more meaningful and valuable pursuits. The most efficient way of satisfying our needs is through collaboration.

I think one could identify a vector consisting of 3 components. -Horizontal vs vertical relations. -Social vs economic relations between participants -Sharing goods (in the broadest possible way) - not sharing goods If an initative posessess is on the left side of each component, it is hardcore collaborative economy. initatives posessing only one one characteristic on the left side, belong less to the collaborative economy. I think the spectrum approach makes a lot more sense than a IN or OUT definition, since the space will only expand David (SnappCar)

Thank you for the beautiful work and the opening to share and find common ground.  I appreciate the definition a lot. In regards to the 'alternative currencies' block  I would invite the review of metacurrency and their definition of currency as current-see (symbol systems to measure, enable and make flows visible) and much larger than financial capital.  An example of this is couchsurfing, where reputation is the currency that allows for the trust to flow and thus makes collaboration possible.  It can be seen as gift economy yet it is included in your description. I would probably add something like: The emergence of a constellation of complementary currencies which offer alternatives to the national currencies.  It includes cryptocurrencies, LETS systems and other currency designs for tradeable wealth. The use of non-tradeable currencies which allow for measuring, ranking and acknowledging value (sometimes seen as intangible value) that creates trust and shift behaviors.

It's a good compilation. If you're not already using it I recommend the collection of links on this topic by on Diigo: https://www.diigo.com/user/Mbauwens/Collaborative-Economy Some minor comments on the table: "resurgence of traditional methods" ... say more? I think there's a big overlap with the https://www.diigo.com/user/Mbauwens/Sharing-Economy (or no principled difference .. models should be combined).  If so, Delivery Model might include "Consumer to Consumer".  However, the concept of Consumer no longer captures private citizen participation -- "Prosumer" is awkward, but it's in that direction.  I assume this model includes that under "Peer-to-Peer", and that "sharing" is under "collaborative consumption". I assume https://www.diigo.com/user/Mbauwens/Co-Design and other emerging relationships are included under Collaborative Production.  Activities in Makerspaces are as much related to learning and to exchange of "social goods" as they are to production. Key Factors probably includes surplus cognitive and creative capacity.  There are reasons for "untapped potentials". Empowerment is arguably the flip side of displacement, outsourcing, and other disruptions to traditional employment. Alternative Currencies probably includes more generally, "barter", and Collaborative Insurance would include more general forms of risk-sharing. Overall there's a kind of "warm fuzzy" suggested through terms such as empowerment and community, and an avoidance of related terms that are probably controversial for ideological reasons, such as degrowth and sustainability.  I assume this is intentional, but if not, it's worth consideration.

Based on the most relevant definitions of different authors, Richter, Kraus and Syrjä (coming soon) present the first definition of Shareconomy which evolved from a scientific publication:   "Shareconomy is an economic model enabled by modern ICT, based on the sharing of digital content, physical goods, or the participation in commercial, cultural or social projects to access underutilized assets for monetary or non-monetary benefits" (n.p.). Business-to-Customer-to-Customer (B2C2C): a professional provider (B) enables and support the transaction between consumers (Giselbrecht, 2014, p. 12)     References:   Richter., C., Kraus, S., & Syrjä P. (erscheint demnächst). The Shareconomy as a Precursor for Digital Entrepreneurship Business Models. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Giselbrecht, C. (2014). Shareconomy - Rahmenbedingungen von B2C2C-Shareconomy-Unternehmen(Bachelorthesis). Vaduz: University of Liechtenstein .

Hello everybody! I find this work very interesting but I have a question. What do you call sharing economy? It is just a synonym of collaborative economy or a part of the collaborative consumption like in this work I attached. Thank you in advance! http://www.fastcoexist.com/3022028/the-sharing-economy-lacks-a-shared-definition#8

Very helpful, thanks a lot. I would like to add that low transaction costs are a key factor. They are caused by collaborative technologies and they enable convenience and choice. Above that I was wondering if you agree that any combination of collaborative economy pillars and delivery models is possible e.g. P2p - collaborative finance, B2C collaborative education etc.