"RECOSET aims to stimulate the creation of a network among research centres that are committed to studying cooperative and social enterprises in EU/AC and TC. The societal interest in cooperative and social enterprises stems from their capacity to sustain the welfare of individuals and families, to fight social inequalities, and to enhance social cohesion and solidarity behaviours through the production of a wide spectrum of general interest services (ranging from health, social and cultural services to the work integration of disadvantaged workers), heavily affecting the welfare and political systems. Despite the growing number of individual researchers and research centres involved in studies concerning this theme, a general consolidated literature on the matter is still lacking. The lack of uniformity, coupled with a poor understanding of cooperative and social enterprises’ roles in contemporary societies and economies, prevents the enhancement of awareness of policy makers and practitioners on the potential of cooperative and social enterprises and thus jeopardizes the sector’s development. Against the background of overcoming the lack of a common theoretical framework and empirical methodologies in this field, RECOSET promotes the exchange of researchers (both early-stage and experienced). Furthermore, given the goal of establishing a lasting cooperation among the beneficiaries ,the exchange of one staff member from EURICSE specialised in networking activities is promoted. As for Third Country, the main goal is to give researchers the opportunity to benefit from the theoretical and empirical knowledge that has been accumulated so far by the EU/AC research centres involved. Researchers from EU/AC countries will be offered the opportunity to broaden the geographical reach of the studies so far accomplished, by focusing on countries where research on cooperative and social enterprises is still rather scarce."