What does shared economy hold for the future?

The sharing concept has created markets out of things that wouldn’t have been considered monetizable assets before. According to Forbes, just as YouTube did with TV and the blogosphere did to mainstream media. The share economy blows up the industrial model of companies owning and people consuming. And allows everyone to be both consumer and producer, along with the potential for cash that the latter provides.

I tend to be optimistic about sharing economy becoming ubiquitous, just as malls or banks are — I may be biased on this answer — but here is what I think:

• Optimization —most things are idle, or not used. Renting those things is a source of revenue.
• Affordability —there are things are expensive to buy, and not used most of the time. If you drive to work, your car is parked from 9–5. That doesn’t reduce monthly payments on your car loan. On the other hand, the only time a cab is in parking is when there are no customers around, or the driver has a day off. Both car worth the same market value, but one pays itself, whereas the other is just wasting the money.
• Democratize access to wealth—anything you own may not be just an expense, but also wealth. That would reduce depreciation of things people will own. Not only taxi cabs, but also things like skates, parking spots, etc.

The rise of the sharing economy is a potent weapon in the carbon war. One third of business leaders see the value in sharing best practice, costs and resources to improve efficiency and reduce emissions that would enable them to respond effectively to climate change. But economic transformation cannot come from invention alone, it is also dependent on the adoption of new, innovative products and services across the economy.