Platforms, Volume 2, Issue 1 (March 2024) – 3 articles

A global trend regarding the “platformization” of the internet has been, for years, emerging roughly across all traditional industries. It is reflected in the proliferation of digital platforms (DPs) based on the creation of new activities or the online expansion of offers traditionally available only physically (e.g., boutiques, supermarkets). Thus, digital platforms are a new springboard of development opportunities for all businesses, and Africa, with demographic (more than 1.2 billion customers), economic (middle-class boom), and technological (internet and smartphone penetration) dynamism, represents a huge potential market for the DP industry. This exploratory research is based on a qualitative approach applied to the case of Senegalese DPs. From its finding, we have a mapping of DPs and a classifying typology of the types of actors involved, according to their specialization and their paradigmatic orientation. New insights into how DP organizations and the firms within them operate and create value are proposed as well as a new conceptual framework for the articulation of DPs, specifically those particularly adapted to the African context. This work opens avenues for future research linked to the scale of the new challenges related to marketing and managerial issues and the new business models that have recently been developed by innovative local actors (TukkiJamm, ShopMeWay, etc.). Full article

This study investigates the implementation and impact of maker culture—viewed as a tool for developing green digital skills—in higher education institutions in Hong Kong. Maker culture, a collaborative educational approach, embraces students’ capacity for self-paced, autonomous learning and applies this knowledge to creative problem-solving and innovation, key aspects of sustainability education. An empirical study was conducted, focusing on the experiences of teachers in the higher education sector in Hong Kong. Eight individuals were interviewed to gain insights into their perceptions and experiences with maker education within sustainability contexts. The sample was limited to ensure cross-sectional comparability and direct weighting of teachers’ experiences within a singular, complementary educational setting. The findings provide valuable insights into the benefits and challenges of integrating maker education into traditional educational systems to foster green digital skills. It became evident that adequate resources, effective teachers, and improved administrative systems play significant roles in the successful implementation of this approach. Maker education, as a tool for developing green digital skills, offers a promising alternative to traditional performance-based studies. It has the potential to lead to a future of education that is creative, innovative, and student-directed, fostering sustainability competencies. Therefore, despite the challenges, with the right support and resources, the integration of maker culture into educational systems could significantly transform teaching and learning processes, advancing sustainable education. Full article

Platforms have the ability to create connected digital spaces where different actors co-exist and work together. The paper explores the power of platforms as enablers of a new channel of proximity, called digital proximity. It argues that platforms enable interactions, information flows, and network formation through digital proximity, which can effectively reinforce externalities complementing existing proximity forms or bypassing physical space barriers. Firms and industries adopting platform-based tools can create meaningful channels for increasing their proximity at an intra- and inter-firm level. The study uses data from the Digital Economy and Society database covering 25 EU countries for the years 2019 and 2021. It calculates the degree of adoption by EU firms at the national level for a set of selected platform-based technologies closely related to different proximity forms. It investigates the relationship between digital proximity, firm size, and industry, also introducing a geographical dimension. The evidence suggests that large firms have managed to integrate platform-based technologies to a greater extent, whereas small and medium firms still lack leveraging the full power of platforms. Increased adoption at the country level is also related to increased productivity, indicating the geographical dimension of platforms. The paper argues that platforms can be seen as a new means for balancing uneven spatial capabilities for producing proximity, indicating a high potential for fostering territorial cohesion. It concludes by suggesting that future research should measure the effects of digital proximity on development and their causal relationship to better elaborate on the implications of platforms on development. Full article