A few discussion-starter ideas based on this set of criteria
Ideally, this will be where we spend the bulk of our time in our session. Here are a few ideas of potential platforms to stimulate discussion:
One of the main characters in the Future of Work debate is "The Uber Driver." There's lots of handwringing about how bad this job is and little people get paid. Well, what if we could instantly pay them 33% more? Without charging riders more? We can. Uber, Lyft, Grab - they're just apps. In Denver, the Green Taxi Co-operative, which is just an app owned by the drivers, controls a large share of the market. So what if Canada, France and the UK got together to build a really good ride-sharing app? And let people use it for free? That's a market half the size of the US. Without affecting the market price for ride sharing, you'd instantly shift significant wealth to some of the most vulnerable in society, at a cost far lower than the social services we likely currently provide.
More critical here is the future of transportation. Ride sharing companies, and their investors, openly talk about wanting to become the end-to-end provider of transportation services in the future, connecting cars, bikes, scooters and public transit. Is that a future that's beneficial for people who depend on public transit? Is mobility a social good that should be "privatized," likely to companies based in, and funded from, only a few global locations? How much will the specific needs of Regina and Cleveland and Nairobi be accommodated in such a system? Instead, should we be playing a greater role in building a new system that improves mobility for those who need it most, as public transit is intended to do?
The evolution of peer-to-peer markets is explored by the Open Data Initiative: https://theodi.org/project/research-and-development-peer-to-peer-accommodation/
In Toronto we are right now engaged in a fierce debate over Waterfront Toronto's potential partnership with Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet subsidiary. The project is designed to build an enhanced neighbourhood on Toronto's waterfront making full use of digital technology. At issue is how to manage the data, information and insights produced in the effort, as well as the return Sidewalk is likely to get for their investment. Is this the right type of public/private partnership for understanding how to incorporate technology successfully into cities? Or should a number of countries partner to make the investment, attract the talent and build a project like this? Does Google bring something to the table that couldn't be achieved otherwise? If data were protected and the output were a public good shared by municipal governments and entrepreneurs all over the world, wouldn't that be a better return on the investment?
It's an idea explored at the Mozilla Festival in London in October:
https://ti.to/Mozilla/mozfesthouse-Neighborhoods
Historically, education has been jurisdiction-specific, both for cultural reasons and the requirement to have an actual built infrastructure to house students and educators. Technology obviously opens up education to global providers. Are the current platforms providing a good service? Are there solutions that would benefit from scale and be helpful but don't have a clear business case?
Your host knows next-to-nothing about the potential approaches to protecting and managing identity through blockchain and other technology, but knows enough to know they exist. It's currently an area of significant effort.
Why does Equifax still exist? Credit scores are a big part of our financial infrastructure, and the current system is terrible. Couldn't many peoples' lives be improved with a better approach?
Like with credit scoring, a sub-optimal market structure seems to be keeping a bad business model alive. Also like with credit scoring, disruptive innovations are small and the path to scale is way too long given the harm the current system causes.
So much of our current system relies on weird ways to prove reliability and trustworthiness. My favourite example is that landlords often require letters from employers as a condition of renting apartments. It's already a major problem for many, but becomes an even bigger problem as more and more people become self-employed. What would the answer look like, and how much would it cost? How much would a successful system improve the efficiency of the economy?
Clearly there are many possibilities here, and there are major challenges with each one. The question to answer is: are there enough compelling and powerful ideas to make it worth figuring out a real approach to building platforms for the people?