The collaborative economy : impact and potential of collaborative internet and additive manufacturing

Ever since its appearance, Internet has allowed us to collaborate with other people remotely. In the 80's, email was the breakthrough that enabled exchange of digital materials. In the 90's, the World Wide Web opened collaboration on web sites. After 2000, social media and e-meeting technologies enabled face-to-face interaction with others via the Internet. New modes of collaboration, such as crowd sourcing, crowd funding, co-creation or open design are reaching mainstream use. Advances in technologies related to Collaborative Internet, Big/Open Data, Crypto Currency and Additive Manufacturing are bringing the Collaborative Economy ever closer to us. This study reveals a wide range of opportunities and threats associated with these technologies,as well as social, political, economic, moral and ethical issues related to this new way of working. Policy options are presented, in order to help policy makers anticipate developments with effective policies that will nurture the positive impacts of collaborative Internet and avoid the negative ones