Collaborative Economy and the Digitalization of Timebanking: Opportunities and challenges

The origins of timebanking in Europe go back to the 90’s but, for a decade, with some exceptions, it was not well-known. Over the last years, however, in context of crises, but also of explosion of the so-called collaborative/sharing economy, timebanking has gain popularity. The number of initiatives has experience a peak and a new kind of TB has emerged, the Digital TB (DTB). This paper emerges from a transnational case study research. First, it proposes a classification of TBs. After that, it focuses on one DTB, TimeRepublik, before analysing the main similarities and differences between old and new TBs. Finally, it reflects about the role of digital technologies in the rejuvenation of an old idea such as time exchange. The main conclusions are that, despite sharing the hour per hour schema, DTBs’ scope, members’ profile and nature of the services exchanged bring along some limitations and challenges but also reveal a set of possibilities beyond the goals of traditional timebanking.