Have you ever spent one of those evenings with friends where you reimagine the world, sharing your indignations, denouncing what needs to change, and proposing solutions to do things differently, only to return home without having changed anything? This is the shared observation of the founders of the association Start-Up de Territoire, who one day decided to take action.
“There was this idea that our dreams and indignations, if they have no space for expression, will only turn into anxiety, anger, and resignation,” explains Anita Duval. “So they had the idea to create a space that would allow them to be transformed into concrete actions for impactful projects.”
Another observation is the significant socio-economic and environmental challenges present in various territories, along with the understanding that no single actor can act alone. Thus, the desire to create zones of cooperation that bring together public and private actors, associations, businesses, and citizens in all their diversity to reflect on their territory, what they desire, what is lacking, what should be done, and to do it together.
Specifically, in each local team, the idea is to first gather the dreams, ideas, indignations, and desires of residents and local actors, which help identify where needs are currently insufficiently met as perceived by the residents.
Then, to create large collective evenings around the challenges that arise from the previous phase. Participants question, imagine how to create new solutions, accelerate some, or how to implement others that already exist and could meet a specific need.
Next comes the selection phase to choose those that are relevant in light of local needs so that residents and all actors want to take ownership of them and engage with them.
From these collective and participatory brainstorming sessions, countless projects have emerged across France, such as recycling materials or advertising tarps, setting up a mobile truck offering short supply chain food products, thus bringing life and activity back to the villages it traverses...
From 6 pioneering territories at the start, there are now 24 being supported. A total of 564 local entrepreneurial projects have been launched in areas such as mobility, food, circular economy, health, housing, and community living. More than 17,800 people have expressed their dreams, desires, and ideas, and 5,600 have taken the plunge into engagement and joined one of the teams to help these projects come to fruition. Finally, 691 jobs have been created within these local dynamics.
“And this is just the beginning, as the goal is to support 5 to 10 new teams each year who want to launch and drive local dynamics,” concludes Anita Duval.
