Dawn Mark J.

Cabo
Option 2: Watch any panel discussion, summarize it, and write a 50-word reaction below your
summary.

Title: “The Future of the Collaborative Economy”

The European Commission’s Latvian Representation and the Digital Freedom Festival Forum jointly
arranged this panel discussion, which was held on the EC grounds (Aspazijas Blvd. 28, Riga). The
main objective of the roundtable discussion was to identify the difficulties and possibilities of the
collaborative economy models, engage in conversation, and discover the potential for collaboration
among startups, decision-makers, and opinion leaders for better outcomes in the future.
Background:
In Europe, the collaborative economy is expanding incredibly quickly. Peer-to-peer housing, peer-to-
peer transportation, on-demand household services, on-demand professional services, and
collaborative finance are five key sectors of the collaborative economy that in 2015 generated
platform revenues of close to 4 billion euros and facilitated 28 billion euros in transactions in the nine
largest economies in Europe. The collaborative economy is anticipated to expand by 35% annually
over the next few years, which is ten times faster than the whole economy. According to PwC UK
projections, it will compete with several sectors of the traditional economy by 2025 and produce 80
billion euros in revenue while facilitating close to 570 billion euros in transactions.
Based on an online survey of the attendees of the Digital Freedom Festival Forum, the EU’s tax
regulations and user protection are the participants’ top areas of interest and concern in relation to the
collaborative economy. Protections under labor law and requirements for market access are other
matters of importance.
Main points during the panel discussion:
1. Having new companies enter the market drives established firms to innovate, which is a
positive thing.
2. Restrictions on the market should be eliminated first. Market winners ought to be chosen by
consumers, not by authorities. Small businesses cannot enter markets without clear legislation
and the lifting of barriers.
3. Traditional distinctions between employer and employee, service provider and consumer are
muddled by the collaborative economy. Therefore, regulatory activities should focus on
clarifying, rationalizing, and streamlining the laws that apply to all market participants rather
that on developing brand-new, specialized regulatory frameworks just for participants in the
collaborative economy. An invention can be tested out by “sandboxing” – setting up a
constrained, specialized regulatory regime to see how its functions in real-world situations—
if it doesn’t fit into the current regulatory frameworks.
4. Perhaps, the European Union’s ability to establish regulatory uniformity will be very
advantageous for the development of these new market actors. For instance, a financial
services corporation must have different licenses from each of the 50 states in the USA. The
EU is a preferable location for establishing a fintech business because licensing is only
required once there. Due to the fact that collaborative economy businesses are frequently
international, the EU must seek to prevent regulatory fragmentation in other sectors as well.
The panel discussion is to stay as an annual side-event of the Digital Freedom Festival where
policymakers and ecosystem representatives engage in meaningful dialogue for better results in the
future.