Collaborative economy business models are growing strongly in Europe and are changing the lives of its citizens. More and more often, we share do-it-yourself equipment with neighbours we met via a smartphone app, rent out our houses to strangers via an online platform or share a ride to work with a stranger who is heading in the same direction. There is a strong growth potential for collaborative economy businesses, but they also face many regulatory barriers by challenging existing traditional ways of doing business. The European Commission aims to facilitate the developments within the collaborative economy. In order to do so, the Commission requested this recently published monitoring study which provides a clear image of the importance and developments of the collaborative economy in the EU Member States.

The study developed an indicator methodology to measure the current level of development of the collaborative economy of the EU-28 across the transport, accommodation, finance and online skills sectors. It also provided estimates on a number of economic indicators, such as revenues and employment on EU, Member State and sector level. One of the main added values of the project was that it developed a database of collaborative economy platforms in each Member State and each studied sector within the defined scope of the study (i.e. Peer-to-peer and Peer-to-business transactions only).

More information on the project, including a list of main findings on the level of economic development of the collaborative economy, can be found on our project page.