Summary of the work programme of the project
During the lifetime of the Project there will be scientific activities that will accompany all stages of the project with final results: 5 Events (conferences, focus groups, round table; promotional event) in collaboration with Research Institutes and other associations representative of civil society (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya; Cattaneo Institute; Urban@it), organized in different places (Bologna, Forli, Barcelona); 1 training course for Public Officers in collaboration with SPISA (University of Bologna). The research activity will be carried out throughout the lifetime of the project to ensure the scientific basis to the organization of events and training course and to prepare deliverables (didactic materials for the student of the training course; practical guide for public administrations and its policy-makers; E-book on open access Electronic Peer-review Journal for academics and authorised personnel; promotional video for the citizen broadly).
A “kick-off” meeting in collaboration with Europe Direct Forlì will be held in Forlì (Campus University of Bologna). During the kick-off meeting, the members of the project will take part in a conference open to students, citizens, private enterprises, public authorities and public city officials. An introductory speech for the general public will aim to outline the origins and reasons of the rise and development of the sharing economy. Other reports will focus on the economic model behind the sharing phenomenon and the trust and reputation that regulate relations between users and service providers in the sharing economy. For this purpose, participants will be academics and researchers of legal studies, economics, psychology and social sciences.
Person in charge: Giorgia Pavani
The focus of this one-day workshop held in Barcelona will be twofold: on the one hand, it will start with a roundtable and participatory debate between experts and researchers about current regulatory issues and legal challenges in the civic and open dimension of the sharing economy (social and solidarity initiatives, digital cooperatives, open source projects, etc). On the other hand, it will then hold a participative workshop structured in working sessions and groups to explore current solutions, templates and “legal hacks” applied by practitioners, organisations and projects in order to establish their operations and sustainability models, as well as regular activity under specific regulatory frameworks and changing conditions. This second part will also have direct implications for experts and researchers, who will be responsible for co-facilitating the dynamics and processing results. This framework will be addressed considering conditions at the European, national and local levels, in this latter case in the context of Barcelona as a city with different dimensions and issues around the collaborative economy phenomena.
Person in charge: Guido Smorto
The event will take place in Bologna and will have the representatives of consumer associations as its main target group. The event will be divided into two sections:
- an introductory speech held by an international professor to explain the topic of the sharing economy in the national and European economic context from an interdisciplinary perspective;
- a round-table between representatives of tourism and transport associations (i.e. Confindustria, Federalberghi, Fiavet), representatives of consumer associations (i.e. Codacons, Federconsumatori, Adiconsum) as well as some of the main sharing economy companies (i.e. Uber, Airbnb, Gnammo-Social Restaurant).
The objective of this section is to address, through debate and discussion among the participants, the main issue of the regulation of the sharing economy and the effects that this new model of business produces on existing European law on protection of the health and safety of the consumer.
Person in charge: Chiara Alvisi
A focus group for local administrators will be held in Bologna during the second year of the project. Participants will be the mayors and council members of five Italian cities: Bologna, Milano, Torino, Parma and Mantua. The reason for this choice is threefold: on the one hand, these cities rank at the top, or near the top, of the most recent list of innovative Italian cities according to the Ernst & Young's smart city index. On the other, according to experts and academics, they reflect different policy perspectives, experiences and priorities as to collaborative economy; last but not least, they represent both metropolitan areas (Bologna, Milano and Torino) and medium-sized cities (Parma and Mantua), thus allowing a scale-sensitive discussion on problems, needs and strategies.
Person in charge: Stefania Profeti
An informative final event about the results of the project will be held in Forlì (Campus University of Bologna) during the second year. Participants will be citizens, students, private enterprises, public authorities and public city officials. Researchers will disseminate the instrumental policies and approaches to sharing economy, in order to inform the public about the best practices elaborated during the lifetime of the project. Participants will be guided on a learning path of the main models currently being tested. Methodologically, the comparison between the different experiences emerging from the research will facilitate discussion and reflection and will give an overview of empirical research and stimulate discussion about the repercussions of data analyzed. The dissemination of results will be performed during the meeting that will last four hours. At the end, a scientific report will be made available to the general public through the project website.
This event will made as part of the “European Day”, scheduled for May 9, 2019.
The programme will be complied with the President of the Scientific Committee of Europe Direct Punto Europa Forlì, Prof. Giuliana Laschi.
Person in charge: Giorgia Pavani