“Co-operatives contributions to a plural economy” is the thema of the conference organized by the Research section of the International Co-operative Alliance with the CRESS Rhone-Alpes and the University Lyon 2 (through the research centre LEFI).

Economic plurality is especially important in a global economy, which too often tends to impose uniformity and as a reaction to that, tends to provoke isolation of actors.

Returning to the Statement on the Co-operative identity published by the ICA should suffice to show that co-operation is not only a conception of business : it also carries on a conception of the economy based on the respect of the human being and on the will to live together and to act together.

This implies that the economy should be considered in its diversity, which notably relies on the plurality of entrepreneurship models. Co-operation is one of them.