Collaborative Economy Industry News, Aug 15, 2014

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Welcome, this industry newsletter shares key market changes, in a twice-monthly publication, curated by Jeremiah Owyang, Founder of Catalyst Companies™, you can subscribe to the email newsletter on the footer of the homepage.

The 12 Players in the Sharing Ecosystem
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lukew/10412585943

Photo taken by Luke Wroblewski, used within Creative Commons License

As the old saying goes, “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard.” In my most recent blog post, I have, as it were, identified the lineup of the players in sharing economy by their position on the field. Each position plays a role and has an impact on the game,. Some play more than one position, often making them a candidate for Most Valuable Player. It’s not about keeping score. It’s about understanding the game, being able to identify the players and learning how the game is played. Read more

Uber and Lyft Take the Gloves Off
Competition always breeds the potential for dirty tactics. Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft are making national headlines, accusing each of ordering thousands of rides from each other, then cancelling them. These services are supposed to be disruptive to entrenched, regulated and unionized taxi services, not each other. It’s not all dirty tricks, however, as the companies compete head-to-head. Both are expanding their model to include carpooling in the never-ending drive to offer the crowd the services it demands. Read more.

Seoul Korea Has an App for That
Recently my compatriate, Neal Gorenflo, called Seoul “the leading the urban wing of the sharing movement,” while reporting on what some might think is a strange twist of events. The city of Seoul is planning to ban ride-sharing leader, Uber. However, unlike other municipalities where the powers that be attempt to shut down ride-sharing startups, Seoul is replacing Uber with its own ride-sharing service. And why not? As a member of Seoul’s Sharing Economy International Advisory Group, Neal is suggesting that Seoul go one step beyond offering the sharing service by offering the public a chance to share in its ownership. It is, after all, their tax dollars at work. Read more. (Note: At 10:30 of the video embedded in the linked article, Catalyst Companies’ own Collaborative Economy Honeycomb appears on screen.)

Owyang Appears in GreenBiz
Catalyst Companies Founder and Chief Catalyst, Jeremiah Owyang, was featured in the August 14th issue of GreenBiz.com. Owyang explained the Collaborative Economy to GreenBiz’ Amy Cortese: “The collaborative economy ultimately results in the empowerment of people that are generating their own wealth and resources – freeing them from traditional 9-5 jobs. It also means more efficient use of the world’s resources, as we use and re-use the same resources many times via this new sharing market.” In addition to his insights into the status and future of the sharing economy, he also emphasized the reality of the growing demand for it.: “There were 4 billion people on the planet when I was born. Today there are 7 billion. That’s expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050, and more people will be living in megacities. We don’t have a choice.” Read more.

The Maker Movement Is Alive and Well in Tasmania
Don’t be fooled into thinking that the Maker Movement is some short-lived fad localized to major metropolitan locations. It is alive and well even in the southern-most port city of Hobart, Tasmania, often referred to as the Gateway to Antarctica. 936 ABC Hobart recently interviewed Andrew Dickinson, Director of Indriva and Startup Tasmania, and James Riggall, Director of the Innovation Circle, a space for young makers to come together and collaborate with the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. The men shared the essentials of the movement and how it has the potential to impact the way manufacturing innovates in Tasmania. Learn more.

Sharing Skeptic Turns Advocate
New York Times columnist David Brooks can’t deny the facts. Although he once declared that Airbnb and ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft would never catch on, he now concedes that, not only are they catching on, they are well on the way to dominating their spaces. He sees the movement’s growth as being stimulated by a stagnant middle class creating its own products and jobs, people generally finding peer-to-peer transactions more appealing, and the transformation of public trust from corporations to peers who face the same issues. Op-ed article author Irving Wladawsky-Berger also shares nuggets about the Collaborative Economy from our own Jeremiah Owyang. Read more.

Maker: The Movie
“Maker” is a feature documentary looking into the maker movement in America reforming the economy with a new wave of Do-It-Yourself and Do-It-Together. The “Maker Movement”, sometimes called the “Third Industrial Revolution,” subverts traditional manufacturing by building on innovative concepts such as open source, local manufacturing, crowd funding, and digital fabrication. Breaking the hobbyist movement stereotype, “Maker” delves deep into this ecosystem of design and manufacturing in the Internet era. The film explores the ideas, tools, and personalities that are driving the Maker Movement – and returns with a timely snapshot of one of the transforming influences of the current age. What’s more, the movie, released in May 2014, was funded collaboratively on Kickstarter with funding in the amount of $32,373 from 746 backers, exceeding the original goal of $15,000 by 116%. Read more.

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