The Economy 4.0: A Participatory Market Society Is Born

The invention of the steam engine turned the agricultural society—the “Economy 1.0”—into an industrial society—the “Economy 2.0”. Later, the spread of education enabled the service society—the “Economy 3.0”. Nowadays, the pervasiveness of digital technologies is driving another technological revolution, which is creating the “Economy 4.0”, which I call the Participatory Market Society. This society is characterized by the ubiquity of information, bottom-up participation, “co-creation”, self-organization and collective intelligence as new organizational principles. We will also see more personalized products and services and an increased engagement in a serious and fair partnership with citizens, users, and customers. Finally, the spread of “projects”, empowered by social collaboration platforms, will enable more flexible and efficient forms of production and services.