SWiPE

Public description of the goals at the beginning of the project

Changes in the global economy, as well as the opportunities offered by new technologies and platforms, are changing the dynamics of the economy and the interdependencies between employment and entrepreneurship and skills and education in many ways. The Smart Work in Platform Economy research consortium looks at these changes through multidisciplinary cooperation between the University of Turku and two independent research institutes; ETLA (the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy) and FIOH (the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health).

The research projects examine, among other things, the interdependence of employment and entrepreneurship, university- and science-based entrepreneurship, changes in work brought about by technology and the paths to employment for migrants. The goal is to strengthen knowledge transfer between actors in the field, to deepen cooperation between the research institutes and the university and to generate relevant knowledge to support societal decision-making. New knowledge and research findings are brought out from an early stage to support politicians as well as economic and labour-market decision-makers and experts. Several international experts and institutions are connected to the SWiPE research consortium.

Public description of the results at the end of the project

Smart Work in Platform Economy (SWiPE) –research consortium addressed contemporary work and new features, including platform work and gig work, changes in expertise and expert work in the companies and in the public sector, in entrepreneurship, migration and in higher education and the changes in the earnings logic at work. For impact and dialogue, SWiPE identified key stakeholders at public and private sector, members of Parliament, key members at Ministries, NGOs and Government. SWiPE created open communication channels for research results through webpages, seminars, newsletters, policy briefs, blogs, conference, Parliament hearings and informal meetings. SWiPE conducted rigorous analyses using several data from interviews, case studies, surveys and statistical analyses.
Key results show that expert work, irrespective of the field, is currently changing due to technological change and digitalization. Experts show, however, confidence in their abilities to cope with the digital changes. The gig work at platforms is still rather small-scale earning model among professionals. Education and working life benefit from closer and more agile interface.