Over the last year the Dutch collaborative economy has evolved rapidly. Let’s have a quick look at some of the developments.
Growth of collaborative economy platforms
More and more platforms pop up almost every day. Over the last year we’ve noticed a significant consumer potential through different research projects (by for example Nielsen, NCDO and shareNL). The growth of several collaborative economy platforms now confirms the predicted potential. In general, the main car, ride, skill, meal, task and accommodation sharing platforms are growing at least 15 percent per month (in number of users). We also see more and more happening around crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending.
Adoption by regular industries
Partnerships are emerging between collaborative economy platforms and ’traditional’ industries. A nice example is the collaboration between the holding behind the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, Ahold, and shareyourmeal.net (’Thuisafgehaald’). Through their pilot, supermarket visitors in Amsterdam can now order meals from nearby ‘home cooks’ by using a screen near the supermarkets entrance. You can read the pioneer interview with the founder of Shareyourmeal here.
We’ve also seen this year how insurance companies have developed a great interest and are designing services specifically for the collaborative economy. A highlight is the partnership between Achmea and the Dutch car sharing platforms MyWheels, Snappcar and WeGo. And soon Achmea, which is the biggest insurance company in the Netherlands, will also launch an insurance product for another popular sharing platform.
Last but not least, venture capitalist are slowly but surely directing themselves more and more to the local innovative collaborative economy start-ups.
Research
Different students, PhD students and professors, but also other public and private organizations are starting to research all kinds of aspects of the collaborative economy. This is a good thing. The challenge however is to organize this research, preferably internationally, to avoid people doing the same sort of research. There is a not yet a single platform that combines the work that’s been done and the challenges of the future.
Developments within the government
After the Dutch parliament asked questions about the rise of collaborative economy platforms in the fields of mobility and short say, the Dutch minister for Economic Affairs stated that he welcomes technological innovation and is willing to change the law if necessary.
In the Dutch capital Amsterdam, the collaborative economy has been welcomed pretty much in a similar fashion. For instance the open and cooperative attitude towards short stay in the city. Regulation has been designed and very recently capacity to maintain the rules has been installed.
Amsterdam Sharing City
Soon we will be officially launching Amsterdam Sharing City. As soon as there’s more news to share on this, you’ll be the first to know!
Sharing Week
From 8 until 15 October we organize a Sharing Week in the Netherlands. The kickoff will take place in Amsterdam on the 8th of October followed by a tour through the country, with a whole lot of sharing going on in another city every day. We do this together with organizations like Seats2meet.com, who unlock their (co-working) locations to host everyone who likes to know more about the collaborative economy. More information is available on www.sharingweek.nl.
By: Pieter van de Glind & Harmen van Sprang (co-founders of shareNL)
