The Paris School of Telecommunications (Telecom Paris) is the leading French engineering school focussing on digital technologies. As members of its Social and Economic Science Department, we have been studying the digital transformations of business and labor processes in Europe. More specifically we have been systematically examining platform matching employers and labor providers (freelance, temp workers, casual and micro-workers).

The Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSK-BAS) is the main national research centre in the sphere of social sciences in Bulgaria. ISSK carries out fundamental and applied research, including in the domain of the digital transformation and the future of work. ISSK has participated in a number of large EU funded research projects (FP 5, FP 6, FP 7 and H2020), including the H2020 project BEYOND4.0 “The impacts of Industrie 4.0 and Digital Disruption”. The ISSK team is led by Dr. Vassil Kirov and will lead the work package 2 on the evolution of regulation models and will participate in all other work packages.

ACTA – it is the Italian association that gives representation to high-skilled self-employed workers (trainers, researchers, computer scientists, designers…). Acta will participate at the definition of alternative workers, contingent workers slash workers, and it will measure these phenomenons and their characteristics trough European statistical data. Acta will also participate to the empirical research aimed at detecting experiences and needs of workers and practices already tested in the context of industrial relations for contingent workers; it will also take part at the codesign of new industrial relations prototypes for contingent workers and slash workers.

Smart has serviced over 80.000 members in 20 years in Belgium alone. It was created for freelancers to allow them to develop their economic activity independently while being protected both through the access to the status of salaried worker and through mutualization of means. A wide range of profiles joined Smart: from genuine entrepreneurs to side activities to people who occasionally sell goods they produced as a hobby. Even some platform workers from Deliveroo used Smart cooperative to avoid being self-employed. Whatever their field of activity, a vast majority of members are in discontinuity of employment and juggle with different clients and different jobs (slashers). They all create their own job opportunities (instead of waiting for an employer to hire them) and find in Smart the administrative tools and professional support they need. Most sectors of activity of the service economy are represented (consultancy, construction, creative industry, caterers…). From this unique experience and observatory, Smart has gained expertise in these types of workers, which it will put to contribution during the project. It will also be able to outreach these workers and provide data useful to the consortia.

Smart will also be organizing the final conference of the SWIRL project.

The Scientific Advisory Board is composed by

The Steering Committee (SC) consists of the Project Manager (PC) and Project Partner representatives (PPR).