Could NEMs be piloted?

When mass postage was mooted, one honest skeptic suggested a pilot. Why not try the scheme for a fixed period in the Northern England town of Penrith? Postage campaigners resisted. Everyone who needed to communicate with another resident of Penrith already had an efficient means of doing so: knocking on their door. A pilot postage scheme would hardly incentivise anyone to cut a hole in their front door, let alone learn to read and write.

National E-Markets have similar dynamics. It’s the scale, pervasiveness and burgeoning, interlocking, market sectors that make it so attractive. That, and the fact it’s likely to be around for a long time, make it worth a change of behaviour to reap the benefits. Mass 24/7 water supply also faced hurdles of political confidence. A first reservoir had to be created to test the notion.

That said, there are two ways NEMs could be partially trialled before a full scale legislative commitment.

• Neighbourhood E-Markets. This is a version of NEMs with no legal backing: same technology, far fewer sectors, less compelling proposition. It could be run off one server and trialled in a defined urban area over 18 months or so.
• Paper piloting. Government could convene a panel of technology companies and ask on what terms they might fund a NEMs launch for the country. Analysis of the public sector’s readiness to switch to such open markets could be commissioned. Chambers of Commerce, community groups and economists could input on the viability. It won’t be definitive – just as no-one could have modelled the innovative impact of Penny Postage from questionnaires – but it would help build a business case.

•  A new policy area