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Francophone studies in industrial ecology pay specific attention to the concept of territory. Two trends have recently emerged: “industrial and territorial ecology” and “territorial ecology”. Despite ontological and epistemological differences, these trends are closely linked and face a twofold challenge, i.e. structure a community of francophone researchers and initiate reflections on the issues addressed by recent research. This article offers a synthesis of the interventions and debates that took place during the first meeting of young researchers in industrial and territorial ecology held at the Troyes University of Technology on April 13-14, 2017. This meeting questioned the epistemological foundations of these fields as well as the resulting interdisciplinarity, the purpose being to federate a network of young researchers. The first interventions highlighted important issues that challenge the initial project of industrial ecology and its current consequences. The second outlined avenues for the development of new conceptual framework for industrial and territorial ecology. The debates revealed a diversity of views (about nature-society relationships, and transitions) and their ontological compatibility. The articulation between engineering and social and natural sciences was also discussed. Finally, the debates warned against the pitfalls of methodological eclecticism.