Research on the Rise of the "Handcrafted Economy" in the Digital Era

Abstract

The inclusive development of digital technologies has spawned the "handcrafted economy", an emerging lightweight innovation format. With individuals or small teams as the main innovation subjects, it realizes the rapid implementation of creative ideas relying on artificial intelligence, flexible supply chains and digital platforms, and has become an important carrier for individual innovation and the release of micro-economic vitality in the digital era. Based on the practical characteristics of the handcrafted economy and existing research results, this paper systematically defines the core connotation and essential characteristics of the handcrafted economy, analyzes its driving mechanism from the four dimensions of supply, demand, institution and ecology, explains its epoch-making effects in activating individual innovation, optimizing market supply, reshaping innovation paradigms and highlighting humanistic values, and then reveals its practical dilemmas in product safety, intellectual property rights, individual capabilities, regulatory adaptation and commercial sustainability. Finally, it puts forward the optimization path for the high-quality development of the handcrafted economy from the perspective of the coordination of the government, platforms, individuals and the industry. The research shows that the handcrafted economy is an inevitable result of the fission of micro-innovation units empowered by digital technologies. Only through flexible regulation, ecological empowerment and capacity cultivation can it move from a short-term boom to long-term development and inject micro-power into the cultivation of new quality productive forces and high-quality economic development.