Exploring how digital innovation reshapes payment systems, relationships, and markets in a data-driven economy.
Digital innovation is transforming payment technologies at a rapid pace. Over the past decade, payment systems have diversified — from apps enabling in-store and peer-to-peer transactions to platforms issuing loyalty points, gift vouchers, and even in-game currencies. These changes have introduced new actors and infrastructures, creating a digital payment economy that drives innovative business models and services.
This evolution goes beyond technology. The field of payment systems has shifted from fee-based models to marketing-driven approaches, where transaction data is monetized. These developments reshape relationships and dynamics within everyday payment networks.
This project examines how digital economy practices are embedded in payment infrastructures and how they combine social and technical elements to create new markets and relationships. Proposed is an analytical framework for socio-technical change, distinguishing three phases: anticipation, negotiation, and institutionalization. Looking ahead, payment data has become a valuable resource, increasingly monetized in virtual markets for personalized advertising.
Find out more in the blog post How Digital Innovation is Transforming Payment Technologies