Veolia awarded its Social Commitment trophy to CentSept from Lyon. The social entrepreneurship incubator was a winner of the 2017 Convergences Award for the best social innovation and Veolia is a partner and founder member.
Dedicated to open innovation, CentSept brings together large companies, local government authorities and social entrepreneurs to meet the needs across greater Lyon through projects combining economic development with a social purpose. CentSept supported six social entrepreneurs in 2017: Faciligo, Groupe Icare, Les Petits Plus, Orison, Oz’iris, and Voisin Malin, whose projects focus on people who have reduced mobility, are socially isolated or struggling to find employment.
In rewarding innovations of this type, Veolia wants to promote initiatives that are trying to bring together a wide range of economic actors that would not normally come into contact with each other, the idea being to create a shared dynamic and promote social entrepreneurship. The overriding aim is to provide answers to the needs of local people and to leverage strong local relationships to touch every business sector.
CentSept in figures:
- 5 missions: analyze needs in the local area, identify solutions, co-create solutions, accelerate and facilitate projects, raise awareness
- 11 partner companies: Bouygues Immobilier, Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes, EDF, ENEDIS, Intrum Justitia, Keolis, La Poste, Orange, Sanofi, UGAP and Veolia
- 2 local government authorities: Lyon Metropole and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
- 5 expert partners: Ashoka, ETIC Foncièrement Responsable, In Hominé, Le Mouves and Ronalpia