Social and solidarity-based economy

Chair: Laetitia Lethielleux, management sciences lecturer, REGARDS (EA6292)

Partners: Région Grand Est, FEDER, Grand Reims, CRESS Grand Est

Date created: 2013

The “CHESS” project is co-financed by the European Union. Europe is committed to Champagne-Ardenne with the FEDER. The project is financed to the tune of €94,000 by the FEDER

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Without necessarily knowing it, we interact with social and solidarity-based economy (SSE) companies every day. Associations, supplementary insurance funds, co-operatives, foundations and social enterprises are part of it and are active in all sectors of day to day activities: social, banking, sports, culture, health, education, agriculture, etc. This economy is characterised by its way of developing an activity where profit is not the primary purpose but just a tool for said activity. Solidarity, democracy, people and limited pursuit of profit constitute the foundation of these companies' values. The SSE thus aims to promote and develop a different entrepreneurial spirit, in order to work towards widely integrating sustainability and individual respect into the economy.

Our chair aims to offer an operational structure for academic research focused on action in the field of SSE. It aims to promote meetings between academic stakeholders (researchers from all disciplines, students, university departments) and SSE companies in our region.

These interactions are intended to promote the SSE, its values and its peculiarities, but also to acquire new theoretical, empirical or methodological knowledge on the new SSE economic and organisational models. The chair's research work is part of two focuses:

  • Social innovation and employment (studies on work organisation, social innovation and forms of employment in the SSE, etc.)
  • To become an entrepreneur in and with the SSE (studies of forms of entrepreneurship and business models in the SSE, etc.)
  • To achieve its objectives, the chair combines its action in three interrelated components.
  • Research: The chair aims to encourage and develop research in the SSE sector, promote the research and run a group of researchers.
  • Training: Training is the leading way of passing on knowledge. The chair contributes to making URCA students aware of the SSE as well as training future managers and practitioners.
  • Partnerships: As part of a dynamic process of promoting research partnerships, the chair wants to facilitate the co-construction of research with the dynamic twinning of expertise in higher education and socio-economic sectors.

Contact:
E-mail: chaire.ess@univ-reims.fr
Website: www.univ-reims.fr/chaireess
Twitter : @ChESS_URCA
HAL Portal: halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/CHESS