The region now boasts 59 companies with the "Entreprises du Patrimoine Vivant" (EPV) label. The State thus recognizes their "outstanding craft or industrial know-how".
Jean-Gabriel Delacroy, General Secretary for Regional Affairs at the Prefect's Office and president of the ceremony, underlined the State's commitment to these companies, which are "the DNA of Hauts-de-France".
The EPV label is the only government award recognizing the craftsmanship and industrial know-how of French companies. Created in 2005 and awarded by the regional prefect for a five-year period, by 2022 it represented 1,307 companies nationwide, operating in eight different sectors.
In all, they employed 60,000 people, with cumulative sales of €12.6 billion. EPVs are essentially small and medium-sized enterprises.