ACCENT SUD- Association pour la cooperation culturelle et l’économie numérique avec le sud de l’Europe, is an association aimed at developing regional support, partnership opportunities and building a systematic and consistent dialogue between different stakeholders in the culture and digital economy transition, with a geographical focus in south Europe. ACCENT SUD is based in the south-west of France, close to the city of Bordeaux in the region of Aquitaine. ACCENT SUD positions itself as a centre of attraction in the field of digital economy transition. The ecosystem of the association, formed by the participating companies, research centers, public entities, associations and local initiatives provides a full range of enabling services and transnational projects.
This strategic geographical location allows the association to provide its services and support in a wider cross-border and macro-region covering central and south France, and the east part of Spain but also creating bridges with the Benelux economic area.
WE AIM TO
Developing Regional Support
The ecosystem that is originated by Accent Sud creates a significant advantage for everyone that benefits from it since it provides a full range of enabling services and transitional projects, that in turn help to increase the investment in culture and local development as well as the competitiveness of the regions in southern Europe.
This business ecosystem will make use of its partners’ knowledge to create leading practices and an increasingly large workforce that understands the practical elements of building greener, more connected, and more social regions while at the same time enabling smarter investments to correct the imbalances between regions.
By sharing common goals, having an efficient structure to benefit all partners, and being culturally aligned Accent Sud’s stakeholders hope to make their regions more competitive and smarter, through innovation, digitalization, digital connectivity, exchange of intelligence, and support to small and medium-sized business.
Creating Partnership Opportunities
ACCENT- SUD positions itself as a Centre of attraction for local organizations, companies, government organizations, and human resources in the field of digital economy transition.
The ecosystem of the association, formed by the participating companies, research centers, public entities, associations, and local initiatives provides a great opportunity to form connections and partnerships between stakeholders that share the same values and interests. Participants in this business ecosystem create more value collectively than they could create individually and understand the practical elements of building and operating an efficacious ecosystem process.
Building a systematic and consistent dialogue between different stakeholders in the culture and digital economy transition fields.
Accent Sud hopes to mitigate the lack of exchange of wisdom between different European regions in the fields of culture and digital economy transition. By creating an open dialogue between the different stakeholders’ Accent Sud is building the path for the pursuit of digital transformation and assembling a framework that allows them to start up, scale up, collect, and use data, innovate, and cooperate on fair terms.
This will not only help the development of different regions but also create bridges between them to obtain more efficient and substantive results, boosting their productivity and global competitiveness.
OUR MANIFESTO
Introduction
Accent Sud is a young non-profit organization. We want to build our daily work on a set of values, beliefs and principles. We want them to guide us in the choices and decisions we make. This is the foundation of our culture.
Our purpose
We want to make a real and meaningful impact in the following areas:
Knowledge economy & Digital transformation
Accent Sud contributes to a society that resolves problems and ensures growth through knowledge which entails highly specialized skills and competences in specific areas. It capitalizes on digital technologies that have a potential to optimize many industries and processes, making them more inclusive and more sustainable.
Culture and Art
Accent Sud uses culture and art as powerful tools of societal transformation. Very often, solutions to complex problems do not lie in technology only but in changing societal attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are not always logical and rational. Art has a power to communicate without words. Its place must not be in art schools, galleries and journals, but everywhere in our society.
Climate change and environmental protection
However, there is no purpose in any endeavours unless we secure the wellbeing of our common home planet Earth and that of the human beings. Accent Sud is dedicated to development and deployment of sustainable solutions that would allow the economy to flourish without damaging the climate and harming the environment, end the unbounded exploitation of natural resources and careless pollution.
Cross-sectoral cooperation
Accent Sud seeks to change the world where science is left in journals and academic conferences, business seeks ever growing profits, governments make undeliberate policies and the art lives in a world apart. We want to unite and align all the actors, because together they have infinite potential for powerful and lasting change.
Our values
Trust
We believe to be able to consistently demonstrate actions which align with our vision and values, and this is how trust is born. It means for us freedom and encouragement to put our imagination, creativity, and passion to work. It also means responsibility and accountability.
Transparency
As a team we have no secrets and we do not hide anything under the carpet. When we disagree, have concerns and uncomfortable topics, we discuss them. This is the attitude we hold with our partners, clients and sponsors.
Equality and Inclusion
We are a small and so far, 80% female team. However, gender has not been a parameter of choice for our team members: we are open to all kinds of profiles, regardless of gender, colour, diet, religion, or anything else that makes a person feel different. We seek to never judge and stereotype anyone. The two things that matter to us are adherence to our vision and values, and good performance.
How we work
Mind & Heart
We understand that the world dominated by logic and reason alone cannot evolve in a balanced and healthy way. That is why we use the heart in everything we do: empathy, compassion and imagination. It makes our work much more meaningful and more substantial.
Pursuit of Growth and Learning
At Accent Sud, we want to ensure that every employee is at the right place, finds enough meaning and purpose in their work and feels both fulfilled and challenged. We seek to provide maximum opportunities for professional growth and learning.
Work-Life Balance
At Accent Sud, we do not support the philosophy of success defined by “hard work” that comes at the cost of sacrificing personal well-being and other commitments and priorities we have in life. We seek to work “smart”: prioritizing tasks that require limited investment of time but provide maximum impact, using the rule of 80/20. We combine it with a clear vision and regular communication. It does not mean that peaks of workload never happen to us. They do, and then we give extra effort and make sacrifices, however we see them as exceptions to the rule, and we allow ourselves to rest.
Full Remote (so far)
We made this choice both out of necessity and our own preferences. While we benefit from the freedom and convenience this way of work brings, we are conscious of its disadvantages as well, such as lack of communication, a feeling of disconnection, and blurred limits between personal and professional life. We compensate for it through regular online meetings and occasional physical meetings and setting our personal rules and boundaries.
Full Flexibility
Because we trust that each of us has self-discipline and understand that what is productive and convenient for one is not necessarily such for another, we adapt collectively to our individual needs, leaving maximum space for personal freedom.
Flat Structure
As a small organization we enjoy flat organizational structure. We give autonomy and voice to each other, with each of us participating in decision-making processes when it is needed and appropriate. Because much of our work relies on and at the same time directly or indirectly contributes to Democracy, we support it at the heart of our organization.