Description:

Digital platform economy is growing very fast and in the time of pandemic and social distancing it enhanced the position of many platforms in the economy. Infrastructures created by platforms’ owners open new ways for human activities and change how we work, collaborate, create value in the economy, and compete for the resulting profits. We are witnessing dynamic growth of digitally enabled activities in business, politics, and social interactions organized around these digital platforms. The application of big data, new algorithms, and cloud computing will change not only the nature of work but also the structure of the economy in itself. While some experts indicate that the platform economy opens new opportunities for disruptive businesses, others ask questions concerning the impact on employment, consequences of algorithmically driven growth, relations between platforms’ owners and new generation of entrepreneurs or repositioning of power in the economic system. The exact nature of that transformation will be determined by the social, political, and business choices we make including a choice between approaches based on exploration and exploitation. Exploration is about discovering new opportunities and enhancing learning. This kind of activity is characterized by knowledge creation, risk taking, experimentation, and innovation. In contrast, exploitation leverages existing knowledge and technologies to commercialize established products or product extensions or enter new markets at lower costs. In the era of the platform economy many questions remain open. The debate over policy will not be straightforward because it will not only define market rules but also choices and decisions. The goal of the above delineated session is to meet the most pressuring challenges of regulation of the digital platforms economy. How to ensure inclusive participation of all the entities willing to operate within the already existing and rapidly developing system? How to make sure that there is a relative balance between all the players of this system? The multistakeholder environment of this panel will be a fertile ground allowing to answer these and all the other arising questions.