There have been various attempts over the past few years to provide a visual display of the social economy.  Arguably the most wide reaching of these was created by the UK innovation charity NESTA earlier this summer.

They have created a map of what they call ‘digital social innovation’ ventures currently in operation throughout Europe.  The map was a project backed by the European Commission and involves Esade, FutureEverything, IRI, Swirrl and Waag Society.

Unfortunately, it seems the map is no longer in existence, so it’s pleasing to see a fresh effort from the UK based sharing economy venture Love Home Swap, who provide a platform for swapping homes (or renting them out).

The map allows you to browse the sharing economy ventures by country, and it’s certainly interesting to see the global spread of the sharing movement.  Once you’ve selected a country, the map provides you with a list of ventures from that country, together with the founder, the industry and the founded date.

As with the NESTA/EC effort, you sense the challenge will be in keeping up to date with what is such a rapidly changing market.  Of course, the map also fails to take account of the global nature of many of the entrants.  Uber for instance have a very well publicized presence in all manner of places, but only warrant one listing on this site.

Maybe something for future editions of the map (if it’s intended to be a long-term venture) would be to cover ventures based upon their market presence rather than simply where they’re based.

Either way, it’s well worth checking out if you want to get a quick snapshot of the kind of activity in various countries.