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Rich in exchanges and discussions, the launch day enabled:

• to revisit the intellectual, legal and institutional foundations of the mission-driven company,
• to explore the territorial and national dynamics of the model,
.
• open up the reflection to a European comparison, by questioning the conditions for the emergence of an alternative business model on a European Union scale.

This day confirmed the project's ambition: to analyze the effects of the mission-based company model, to study its potential for social, environmental and governance transformation, and to formulate concrete proposals for imagining an alternative European business model, in close dialogue between researchers and economic players.

The morning was devoted to institutional and scientific presentations, with talks by academic, economic and institutional figures, around three levels of analysis:

• territorial,
• national,
• European
.

The afternoon revolved around two participatory workshops:

Workshop 1 - Society with a mission: territorial and national dynamics
(Hauts-de-France and France)

This workshop proposed a scientific and practical assessment of the mission-based company model in France, crossing the territorial and national scales.

The discussions highlighted:

• a still very much alive dynamic of the model, both in research and in entrepreneurial practices,
• the central role of territories - and in particular Hauts-de-France - as laboratories for experimentation,
• the importance of training, dissemination of practices and dialogue between academia, business and social players.

The workshop also posed structuring questions about the future of the model: its limits, its conditions for dissemination, its interactions with other forms of committed enterprise, and the collective working methods to be implemented as part of the project.

Workshop 2 - Towards a European model of the mission company?
(European dimensions - workshop in English)

This exploratory workshop questioned the relevance and feasibility of a European model of mission-based society, in a context marked by the diversity of national rights and the absence of a common framework at European Union level.

Based on historical, legal and comparative approaches, the exchanges highlighted:

• the difficulty of European legal harmonization,
• the importance of a common language around social purpose enterprises,
• and the need to think of a model based on three key pillars: legal recognition, accountability mechanisms and effective credibility of the model in practice
.

The workshop also provided an opportunity to open a critical debate on the right time to initiate such a reflection at European level and on possible forms of action (label, flexible legal framework, integration into existing law).

These workshops provided input for the laboratory's initial work, and built up a network of players mobilized over the duration of the project.

An article dedicated to the launch of the project, including an interview with Matthieu Caron, co-sponsor of the project, was published by Carenews at the end of the day: https://www.carenews.com/carenews-info/news/un-projet-de-societe-a-mission-europeenne-lance-pour-imaginer-un-modele-d