29th International congress, Vienna (Austria), 12-14 september 2012

Theme “Public, social and cooperative economy meeting the general interest “

The 29th CIRIEC Congress will focus on general interest, wishing notably to reassert the importance of this value as such and to discuss ways how public, social and cooperative economies meet this general interest. General interest can be defined in several ways: Collective interest, mutual interest of members, altruistic interest etc. It can be achieved or met through various means, projects, enterprise forms and public policies respectively. Innovation in governance or regulation, setting up a revised ethical perspective, civil society mobilization and reaction thereto: those are examples to revise or reinvent the tools to act for the general interest and participate in a societal renewal. More particularly, it should also be examined how enterprises and stakeholders carry general interest values and how they adapt to changing conditions.

Conclusions of Bernard Thiry