For decades, digital technologies promised to create prosperity for everyone. In reality, the opposite happened. The economic value generated by technology - and now accelerated by AI - is concentrating faster than any time in modern history. A handful of global platforms capture most of the gains, while the societies that generate the data, usage, and intelligence behind these systems see little of the value in return.

This imbalance is more than a market distortion. It affects competitiveness, social stability, and Europe’s ability to shape its own digital future.

As AI becomes the core driver of value creation, a new question emerges with unprecedented urgency:

How can people benefit from the technological progress they fuel every day?

The concept gaining momentum across economics, policy, and industry is the idea of a digital dividend - a mechanism through which individuals share in the value they help create through their digital actions.

Why a Digital Dividend Matters

Every interaction with digital services - a purchase, a workout, a ride, or simply the use of an app - strengthens the companies behind them. It improves algorithms, lowers acquisition costs, increases retention, and builds long-term enterprise value.

Today, this value flows almost entirely to the platform owners.

A digital dividend shifts this dynamic.
It allows people to participate in the economic upside generated by their engagement, without speculation and without financial barriers. Instead of value being extracted from digital behavior, value is returned to the people who create it.

For companies, this does not reduce competitiveness - it enhances it. Users who benefit from a company’s growth stay longer, engage more, and drive stronger network effects. The result is a more sustainable, efficient, and resilient growth model.

A Simple Example

Consider a fitness app.
As users complete workouts, invite friends, and engage with content, the app becomes more valuable. Retention improves, new revenue streams emerge, and the business grows.

With a digital dividend model, users would earn tradable or non-tradable digital value shares for the contributions they generate. As the company grows - through subscriptions, partnerships, or expansion - these value shares translate into recurring benefits tied to real performance.

The company gains a powerful growth engine.
Users build long-term value for themselves.
And society benefits from a model that keeps technological gains within the communities that create them.

A New Economic Architecture for the Age of AI

AI amplifies the need for new economic models.
It increases productivity dramatically, but directs the majority of value to a small number of global actors. Without new participation mechanisms, this trend will accelerate.

A digital dividend offers a different path - one that aligns innovation with shared prosperity and builds economic resilience. It allows value created by millions of people to circulate back into society rather than flowing outward.

This represents more than an economic adjustment.
It is a strategic opportunity to define a model of digital progress grounded in fairness, competitiveness, and long-term societal benefit.

The Moment to Act

The timeline is shrinking.
What took platforms a decade to centralize, AI systems accomplish in a fraction of the time. The window to redesign participation in the digital economy is now.

A digital dividend is not a redistribution mechanism.
It is an innovation model - a way to strengthen companies, empower people, and build a digital economy that reflects European values.

In a world where technology increasingly defines economic reality, ensuring that its benefits are broadly shared will become one of the most important challenges and opportunities of our time.

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