Article by Élodie CALAS published in the Midi Libre on September 25
http://www.midilibre.fr/2014/09/25/escale-rurale-pour-le-tour-de-france-du-teletravail,1056202.php
The nationwide operation will be stopping off in Mende on October 9, with a host of local digital players.
Saint-Étienne, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Paris and... Mende! No, there's no mistake: the prefecture of Lozère is one of the stops on the Tour de France of teleworking. The idea for this Tour de France was born in 2013. Already last year, the three national organizers, LBMG Worklabs (a telecommuting expert), Zevillage (a participative information website), and OpenScop (a cooperative and participative company) had launched the project in several major French cities.
The operation was repeated in 2014 with a first date in Saint-Étienne. "We went there to explain to them that there were only big cities in their Tour de France, and that they needed a stopover in the countryside. And they went for it," says Vincent Gatin, digital development officer at Lozère Développement.
Digital technology, a vector for rural development?
October 9 program: 8:30 am, welcome. 9:15 a.m., Xavier de Mazenod and Nathanaël Mathieu, organizers of the Tour de France du télétravail, present an overview of teleworking in France and the challenges facing rural areas. 9:30 a.m., Round table 1: "How can digital technology foster new business models adapted to rural areas? How can we create and develop a favorable ecosystem?" with Bruno Moriset (Lyon 2, CNRS); Laurent Caplat (Bienmanger.com); Dominique Valentin (entrepreneur); Laurent Raybaud (Almosi); Colin Lalouette (Cloud Is Mine); Loic Richer (La ruche numérique); Vanick Berberian or John Billard (association des maires ruraux).
10:45 a.m., break and tour of the ephemeral third place. 11 a.m., round table 2: "How do we support new forms of work organization? With Vincent Maurage (Aract); Céline Teixido (Director AGT Mende); Pauline Maurin (telecommuting experiment for General Council employees); Frédéric Bardeau (Simplon); Anne Saubusse (Supagro). 2 p.m., participative workshop no. 1 "How to carry out a tertiary activity as a self-employed person in the rural countryside?" Sébastien Oziol (Lozère développement). Workshop 2. "Which services for which economic models for teleworking spaces?" with Frédéric Dumortier (Maison de l'emploi et de la cohésion sociale de la Lozère).
Telecommuting microcosm targeted
The event is scheduled for Thursday, October 9. A great opportunity for the Maison de l'emploi et de la cohésion sociale and Lozère Développement, who initiated the event via the So Lozère scheme. The two organizations, which have been "working hand in hand since 2011", hope to bring together a wide range of local players around the issue of teleworking: teleworkers (salaried or self-employed), but also companies applying to develop a teleworking hub, as well as all the partners (association, Département...) "The whole microcosm of teleworking."
But for Lozère Développement, it's difficult to put an exact figure on the number of people involved. "There are around fifty identified teleworkers, but they are estimated at 120; on the business side, there are around fifty companies with teleworking projects..."
Registration is now open
As for the stakes involved in taking part in the Tour de France, they are twofold. Firstly, the attractiveness of the region: "To show that it's an active department. We're working on a prospecting initiative to welcome executives and get some of them to come and recharge their batteries over a six-month period... We'll be presenting this on October 9. The second issue will be telecommuting locations. "How do we go about energizing third places, at a time when offices created for telecommuting are emptying out?"
Registration opened a few days ago, and the organizers are already satisfied with the number of applications received. They've decided not to turn anyone away. "We organized a meeting of this scale in 2011 in Aumont-Aubrac. We repeat these major events every two or three years. To bring people together and prevent the momentum from running out of steam".
