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What is a sharing economy? Which opportunities does it offer to Italian society? How could a sharing economy bridge the gap between enterprises, start-ups and the public administration?
Sharing economy represents an opportunity for everyone: on the one hand, it is one of the most pragmatic answers to the current economic crisis, on the other, it is a path that can lead to a paradigmatic social change.

What is a sharing economy? Which opportunities does it offer to Italian society? How could a sharing economy bridge the gap between enterprises, start-ups and the public administration?
Sharing economy represents an opportunity for everyone: on the one hand, it is one of the most pragmatic answers to the current economic crisis, on the other, it is a path that can lead to a paradigmatic social change. In the last ten years, the sharing economy model has spread across different countries – from the United States to Asia, from South America to the whole of Europe.

Italians are willing to share efforts, to find new solutions to their needs and to play a more and more active role in society. In Italy, collaborative services have more than tripled since 2011 – particularly in the tourism, transport, energy, food and design sectors – and the online collaborative platforms are now more than 250, 160 of which are focused on sharing and exchange activities.
 

The increasing interest and participation to this type of collaborative consumption have led FEEM to carry out several initiatives:

  • Sharitaly – On 29 November  2013 the first Italian event dedicated to the sharing economy model, organized by FEEM with the collaboration of the Catholic University of Milan and the Collaboriamo! initiative. It was held in Milan with the aim at stimulating a debate and critical thinking on the issue of sharing economy and on the role of “collaboration” in the socioeconomic context.
  • Sharexpo – In collaboration with Catholic University of Milan, Collaboriamo and Secolo Urbano, FEEM launched Sharexpo, an experimental pathway to sharing economy during Expo 2015 that aims to make Milan a “shareable” city model worldwide: a concrete approach to share value creation. On 2 July 2014, the Document of Sharexpo was officially presented and the main result of this initiative is the Milan Charter, approved by the Milan’s City Council to experiment new collaborative solutions in the urban context.
  • Share in Action – On April 2015, in collaboration with Alumni Accenture Association, Fondazione Italiana Accenture and b-Venture, FEEM launched a call for ideas aimed at training, developing and promoting valid business ideas on sharing economy. “Share in Action” reflects FEEM’s objective of enlightening the link between social innovation and business while promoting “shared value” processes among society.

Furthermore, FEEM has been nominated a Local Actor of sharing economy by the Milan City Council on March 2015.

The entire research path on sharing economy has brought to the publication of the issue of Equilibri 1.2015 collecting the contributions of Italian experts on the topic, with a particular focus on the metropolitan city of Milan during and after the Universal Exhibition.