Following discussions initiated in 2025 during the Workshop on sustainable business model organized by Copenhagen Business School at Bibracte on a future territorial cooperative for the Grand Site de France, the cultural engineering association Le Facteur rural organised an ideation workshop at Bibracte on 29 June 2026 gathering around 10 representatives of the association Chemins, the Grand Site’s producers’ association, members of the tourism working group, technical staff involved in the Tour du Morvan des Sommets hiking trail and local elected officials.
The aim was to prepare applications to two calls, from the Nièvre Departmental Council and the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, which could fund the socio-economic modelling of the cooperative in 2027. The preparatory work identified three priorities: a service offer meeting the unmet needs of residents and visitors, stronger cooperation between public, private and citizen actors, and new opportunities such as a service concierge or a flagship event around the local bioculturalheritage.
This work aims to shape the five pillars of a prospective territorial economic cooperation hub (PTCE), designed as a decentralised cultural tourism facility: an artistic direction coordinating existing cultural programmes, a general management unit for rural paths and walking routes, a territorial concierge service pooling everyday services, a cooperative digital platform showcasing the local offer, and ecosystem service agreements recognising the contribution of farmers and other stakeholders to landscape maintenance.
