208
10 The Economy 4.0
10.9 Everyone Can Be an Entrepreneur
Whatever your opinion on the issue of a basic income may be, it’s likely that people
will increasingly set up “projects” to earn money with own products and services.
Such projects will be task-driven, supported by digital assistants, short-lived, and very
flexible.
24 The entrepreneurs of the future will launch and coordinate such projects
and organize the necessary support, as discussed below. Once completed, a project
will end and the workforce will look for new projects to coordinate or participate
in. Many people will probably coordinate a project and simultaneously participate
in others.
Such a project-based socio-economic organization has a number of advantages.
The projects will provide their participants with opportunities to influence the issues
they care about. Project participants will also be able to work with a greater degree of
independence in fields that genuinely excite them. As the projects will be short-lived,
this will further overcome the “Peter principle”, which posits that, in a conventional
working environment, employees tend to be promoted until their position is beyond
their ability.
Due to the various advantages, companies, political parties and other established
institutions will increasingly use the organizational form of projects to complement
their existing activities in a flexible manner. This will also help to overcome another
crucial problem: many institutions today are too slow to adapt to our quickly changing
world in a timely way.
10.10 Prosumers—Co-Producing Consumers
Digital technologies are now enabling entirely new and more flexible ways of organizing our economy and society. People are starting to use social media platforms
to organize their own interests and are establishing their own “projects”. In principle, everyone could do this now, given the required technical and social skills. The
World Wide Web, social media, and homemade products created with 3D printers
are just three examples of this trend. In fact, 3D printing technology is now enabling
local producers or individuals to sell products to friends, colleagues and the rest
of the world. Rather than merely specifying the color and individual features of
a product when we order it, we can now design its components or composition
to produce bespoke products, tailored to our needs. It is even possible to set up
a team of designers, engineers, marketing professionals, and other specialists to
design a customized smartphone with components produced by multiple companies or with new, tailor-made components. Furthermore, conventional factories are
24 Michael Bernstein, a professor at Stanford University and leading crowdsourcing expert, speaks
of “flash teams”.
10 The Economy 4.0
10.9 Everyone Can Be an Entrepreneur
Whatever your opinion on the issue of a basic income may be, it’s likely that people
will increasingly set up “projects” to earn money with own products and services.
Such projects will be task-driven, supported by digital assistants, short-lived, and very
flexible.
24 The entrepreneurs of the future will launch and coordinate such projects
and organize the necessary support, as discussed below. Once completed, a project
will end and the workforce will look for new projects to coordinate or participate
in. Many people will probably coordinate a project and simultaneously participate
in others.
Such a project-based socio-economic organization has a number of advantages.
The projects will provide their participants with opportunities to influence the issues
they care about. Project participants will also be able to work with a greater degree of
independence in fields that genuinely excite them. As the projects will be short-lived,
this will further overcome the “Peter principle”, which posits that, in a conventional
working environment, employees tend to be promoted until their position is beyond
their ability.
Due to the various advantages, companies, political parties and other established
institutions will increasingly use the organizational form of projects to complement
their existing activities in a flexible manner. This will also help to overcome another
crucial problem: many institutions today are too slow to adapt to our quickly changing
world in a timely way.
10.10 Prosumers—Co-Producing Consumers
Digital technologies are now enabling entirely new and more flexible ways of organizing our economy and society. People are starting to use social media platforms
to organize their own interests and are establishing their own “projects”. In principle, everyone could do this now, given the required technical and social skills. The
World Wide Web, social media, and homemade products created with 3D printers
are just three examples of this trend. In fact, 3D printing technology is now enabling
local producers or individuals to sell products to friends, colleagues and the rest
of the world. Rather than merely specifying the color and individual features of
a product when we order it, we can now design its components or composition
to produce bespoke products, tailored to our needs. It is even possible to set up
a team of designers, engineers, marketing professionals, and other specialists to
design a customized smartphone with components produced by multiple companies or with new, tailor-made components. Furthermore, conventional factories are
24 Michael Bernstein, a professor at Stanford University and leading crowdsourcing expert, speaks
of “flash teams”.