EDHEC Entrepreneurs launches the 2023 Startup's Guide to responsibility

Exclusive resources to support the emergence of a generation of responsible by design startups.

In 2022 EDHEC Entrepreneurs, the network of EDHEC's three incubators, published its “Startups et entrepreneuriat responsable” survey , carried out in partnership with STATION F, among over 200 French startups, to assess their practices in terms of responsibility.

The study revealed a strong desire to commit to ESG practices (90% of startups), but also significant difficulties in taking action (75% of startups), linked to a lack of support.

In response to this reality, EDHEC Entrepreneurs is today launching the 2023 Startup's Guide to responsibility, with the aim of empowering all entrepreneurs wishing to integrate responsibility at the heart of their startup's development.

This opensource guide is the result of work conducted with the support of over 30 key players in the startup ecosystem, including experienced entrepreneurs, investment funds, incubators and experts. It provides access to over 65 resource sheets, case studies and advice from entrepreneurs and experts on 4 key aspects of startup creation: Structure and governance, Team, Product and service, Customers and users. The ambition is to enable everyone to build their business responsibly, at each stage of development.

Every year, the EDHEC Entrepreneurs incubator helps more than 60 startups from a variety of sectors and business models to accelerate their development. It seeks to enable 100% of these entrepreneurs to integrate responsibility as early as possible into their internal operations and at the heart of their business model. As a result, the 2023 Startup's Guide to responsibility will become a key resource integrated into the support programs of EDHEC Entrepreneurs' incubators in Paris, Lille and Nice.

Discover this Guide

EDHEC supports the emergence of a responsible by design entrepreneurship

The development of this unique framework for all startups is in line with the school's desire to rethink the practices and methods used to teach entrepreneurship, in order to encourage the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneurship that takes into account the challenges of responsibility, right from the start, and at the heart of the business model.

Today, this commitment is embodied in the Responsible Entrepreneurship by design (RED) methodology developed by EDHEC's Centre for Responsible Entrepreneurship (CRE), the center dedicated to coordinating research, academic programs and EDHEC incubators around the major issues of entrepreneurship, innovation and responsibility.

Designed by the CRE, this RED methodology aims to foster the emergence of startups that are responsible by design, i.e. that intentionally integrate global performance issues (economic, environmental and social) right from the start, and at the heart of their business and operational model, in order to grow on the strongest possible foundations.

This methodology has been applied to all the school's entrepreneurial practices, and is now reflected in three initiatives:

• The launch of the EDHEC Entrepreneurs 2023 Startup's Guide to responsibility, to help entrepreneurs create a robust, aligned and sustainable business model.
• The creation of a scientific committee formed by EDHEC professors and outside personalities to steer a research strategy focused on responsible entrepreneurship.
• An in-depth review of entrepreneurship teaching programs.