Sharing platforms

This initiative is part of Sharing Cities Sweden, a national program for the sharing economy in cities.

The way we share is changing. The sharing economy is the umbrella term that has come to symbolize the paradigm shift that has taken us from borrowing two eggs from the neighbor, to sharing car rides with strangers, to finding a place to sleep in an unfamiliar city with a few taps on the phone. 

A driving force behind these new types of exchanges are digital sharing platforms. While many of these digital sharing platforms have achieved great commercial success in the major world metropolises, they seem to be struggling to make the same impact in other cities, and thus to make a clear contribution to a more sustainable society on a par with the opportunities that many of us fundamentally see in them. 

The purpose of this initiative is therefore to investigate whether digital sharing platforms based more on a user-centered sharing philosophy can solve the shortcomings of more resource-centered platforms. For this purpose, a prototype of a user-centered sharing platform has been developed. The goal of the project is to increase knowledge about the design of sustainable digital sharing platforms and, in the longer term, to contribute to the spread of sharing as a natural part of a sustainable lifestyle through pilot tests on this prototype.

Information

  • Project leader: Per Levén, Umeå University
  • Partners: Umeå University, Department of Informatics (lead partner), Idrottsservice Västerbotten AB, Stiftelsen Strömbäcks Folkhögskola and Svenska Försäkringsfabriken i Umeå AB.
  • Total budget: SEK 2 300 000
  • Grant requested: SEK 1 000 000
  • Start date: 2019-01-01 
  • End date: 2020-12-31
  • Type of action: innovation
  • Keywords: digital platforms, sharing economy, cities, frameworks, entrepreneurship, sharing services, users, information technology.

More about the initiative

Links