Once upon a time, people had a lifetime job with one single employer. The majority of jobs were full-time ones in structured companies, and manufacturing jobs were a significant part of the job market. But things are changing pretty quickly. According to…
This Focus, first component of a trilogy dedicated to the innovative ways citizens can directly take action to change their cities, will look at crowdfunding as a powerful tool to transform public spaces in these times of financial crisis. Crowdfunding…
Cities have not been very friendly with Airbnb lately. After Paris and Berlin, the New York State Senate just passed a bill that would make illegal to post a short-term rental (less than 30 days) on Airbnb. If New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signs…
Based on figures provided by the National Venture Capital Association, American crowdfunding platform for small businesses Fundable published an infographic on the sources of startup funding in the U.S. in 2014. The first finding is that self-funding,…
American crowdfunding platform Kickstarter announced it just hit the $1 billion mark in pledges. According to an infographic published by the company, 5.7 million people from 224 countries have backed a Kickstarter project since the website was launched…
Airbnb, the social marketplace connecting travelers and hosts around the world, recently published a ranking of Europe's "most hospitable cities".This study is based on the "hospitality index" created by Airbnb to measure host quality thanks to the…
The rise of the sharing economy and the phenomenal success of marketplaces like Airbnb seem to inspire entrepreneurs all around the world.This trend is exemplified by the recent creation in Amsterdam of "Huiskamerkantoor", a service that enables users to…
The crowdfunding market reached an unprecedented level in 2012, according to a report published by Massolution. The global amount raised by crowdfunding platforms grew by 81% between 2011 and 2012, reaching $2.7 billion.Massolution forecasts an even…
We recently wrote on Mobility&Trends about Amsterdam's “Goedzak”, a transparent garbage bag aiming to contain items that could still be used by others.In the same vein, a new service called "Trashwag" was recently launched in Toronto…
Airbnb, the American social website connecting travelers and hosts around the world, recently published interesting stats about its activity. 2012 was clearly the year where the company took-off: since its creation in 2008, 4 million people have used…
There might be a treasure in your trash... at least for your neighbors! Amsterdam-based design agency Waarmakers created a transparent garbage bag called the "Goedzak" ("good bag" in Dutch) aiming to contain items that could still be used by others.It can…
American creative projects crowdfunding platform Kickstarter just published its activity report for 2012, an excellent year for the company.Nearly $320 million were pledged on the platform by 2.24 million people from 177 different countries and 18,000…
Airbnb, the American social website connecting travelers and hosts around the world, has just launched a new service called “Neighborhood”.This feature aims to help travelers identify the most fitting areas in a city by providing personalized…
Fabrication Laboratories, mostly known as « Fab labs » are an interesting concept, more and more relevant in the whole process of building “smart cities”. What are these fab labs everyone is talking about?The concept first emerged in 2004 at the well…
Crowd-funding or peer-to-peer lending is a new way to get financed by the multitude. Anyone can apply to defend a project and ask for a fixed amount of capital.There are four kinds of crowd-funding mechanisms : “charities” which ask for community…