Innovative Local Initiatives: An Ear to the Ground for Entrepreneurs in the Social Economy

Over the last eight years Philippe Bertrand has presented Carnets de campagne, a radio programme on the France Inter network devoted to the social, economic and cultural initiatives that are burgeoning all around the French regions and opening new paths of development “outside the box” of conventional, institutional thinking. After 1,500 programmes, how does he assess the experience of immersion in these seedbeds of change? Do the projects concerned –devised by “forward-looking” individuals and capable of co-ordinating energies and resources– foreshadow new forms of social life? Are they indicative of ongoing change within French –or, indeed, European– society? Have these new entrepreneurs managed to combine acting locally with thinking globally? We have interviewed Philippe Bertrand and provide some elements of an answer to these questions, elements that are encouraging for those who feel tempted to launch alternative or off-beat projects in the French socio-economic landscape.