What happens when civic economy meets protocol economy?
This exploratory research delves into the potential synergies between civic economies and protocol economies, aiming to uncover new pathways for future research and design. The civic economy, focusing on community, collaboration, and social well-being, offers an alternative to traditional profit-driven economic models. Meanwhile, leveraging decentralized technologies, the protocol economy presents novel approaches to value exchange and governance. Examining these two paradigms’ intersections, we envision a “civic protocol economy” that could address complex societal challenges and foster more equitable, sustainable systems.
In the research, we aimed to capture the state-of-the-art civic and protocol economies and formulate follow-up research questions. We spoke with twelve experts with different backgrounds and organized a round table. A conceptual model is inspiring future research endeavors.