Photos : 1. Philippe de Roux with other young entrepreuneurs - 2. The Queen Mary II arriving at New-York

E&V on the sea

Rethinking the world of tomorrow and giving meaning to commemorations by looking to the future, these are the pillars of The Bridge project, that welcomed Eau & Vie, as an expert of social entreprise.

At the heart of an oceanic challenge, several participants embarked on the Queen Mary 2 during eight days, from June 23rd to July 1st, to cross the Atlantic, connecting Cherbourg to New-York, through Saint-Nazaire. Celebrating the depth centuries-old of the Franco-American friendship, this unique event linked the different society stakeholders to anticipate the world changes and turn them into actions towards the future.

This 5815 kilometre race, opposing the 2nd largest ocean liner to biggest trimarans worlwide, gathered many visionary leaders, decision-makers, and innovative entrepreneurs, including 150 companies located in the West part of France and generated a creative atmosphere and an entrepreneurial drive.

Ashoka largest social entrepreneurs network worldwide aiming to build a world where each individual and organisation is a changemaker, was asked to participate to this huge seminar.

Invited by Ashoka, Philippe de Roux co-director of Eau et Vie and Ashoka Fellow, was part of the crew :
" The Bridge was a historic vehicle for meetings on a very prestigious boat and enabled entrepreneurs to cut themselves off the "outside" world during a few days to create informal links, think, brainstorm, becoming a diplomatic occasion for our country. I introduced, to several people belonging to the network of companies located in the West of France, and explained Eau & Vie’s approach and our conception of an inclusive entrepreneurship towards the most vulnerables groups. The main point for Eau & Vie was to prove that tomorrow’s economic models can’t put aside the most disadvantaged people, an inescapable reality for tomorrow’s cities being a high potential in terms of economy to build for water and sanitation networks and access to services."

Driven by the idea of creating new alliances between different stakeholders of the society to reshape tomorrow’s economy, Ashoka and Philippe De Roux decrypted and analysed a changing world with all the participants and reconsidered the company and its economic, environmental, societal, digital and organizational responsibilities.