Project

Discipline

policy models; regions; territorial innovation; cities

Lead
Dans un monde globalisé affecté par les crises financières, par une interconnections sans précédente des activités et par une préoccupation croissante pour le développement durable, les modèles établis de développement économique et territorial sont remis en question. Quelles sont les nouvelles approches, les pratiques et les politiques émergeantes dans ce contexte de changement ? Quels sont leurs futurs possibles ?
Lay summary
A l’intersection de sept projets de recherche en cours aux Universités de Neuchâtel et de Berne, le projet INNO-FUTURES propose une réflexion sur notre manière de concevoir l’innovation et la compétitivité des territoires aujourd’hui et pour le futur. A travers quatre « ateliers prospectifs », ce projet suscite un dialogue interactif et multilatéral entre des chercheurs, des responsables publics et différents groupes d’intérêts dans le domaine de l’économie et du développement territorial. Mobilisés pour créer le débat, les résultats de recherche alimenteront une discussion ouverte sur la manière de concevoir l’action publique, les approches théoriques, les pratiques sociales et les activités économiques à l’horizon 2030. Une telle démarche se veut constructive aussi bien pour les groupes d’intérêts interpelés par les thèses proposées que pour les chercheurs amenés à poursuivre leurs réflexions en lien avec les débats suscités. Outre l’organisation des ateliers, un groupe de pilotage réunissant des acteurs régionaux, cantonaux et fédéraux est constitué afin de promouvoir ce dialogue auprès d’un public plus large et de le pérenniser au-delà du projet.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 20.01.2014

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

In a global economy affected by the financial crisis, by increasingly interconnected activities and by growing concerns for sustainable development, established models of economic and territorial development inherited from twenty years of relatively stable economic growth are profoundly called into question. This implies not just transposing existing theories and policy practices to new topical fields of action. It fundamentally calls for a new conception of policy intervention and territorial governance. What are the emerging approaches, practices and policies in the current context of socio-economic change? What are their possible futures?At the intersection of seven ongoing research projects funded by the SNSF, the universities of Neuchâtel and Bern intend to contribute to reflections on the futures of territorial innovation approaches, practices and policies in Switzerland and beyond. In a joint consortium, 15 researchers (professors, postdoc assistants and PhD students) will engage in common efforts to initiate an interactive dialog with targeted publics of policy makers, practitioners and other groups of interest. Research results from the ongoing SNSF projects will be used as inputs to initiate creative reflections and discussions with the targeted publics in relation to their practical experiences and the tangible problems they are facing. In the end, a statement of what territorial innovation could be in the next decades should emerge.In partnership with a steering group representing national, cantonal and regional interests in territorial innovation and economic development, four prospective workshops will be held and they will focus on specific thematic issues derived from the ongoing research projects. These workshops will create interactions in between various experts and stakeholders from different social, economic and political spheres. Dialog outcomes will be synthesized in communication papers reflecting the debates, ideas and alternatives developed during the workshops and they will be communicated with a wider audience.Following these prospective workshops, further communication efforts will be made towards a broader group of stakeholders (e.g. regional managers, cantonal and federal policy makers, regional and urban communities, entrepreneurs, project developers, etc.). This dissemination process will take place through specific communication channels and dialog platforms launched by the steering group members and by the European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA). Interaction with regional and national media will also be promoted in order to reach a wider social audience on the basis of more specific issues and examples derived from the workshops.Considering academic research as an interactive process embedded in social, political and economic action rather than as knowledge developed solely by the scientific community, this project will promote new reflections for the targeted publics as well as for the researchers. The project thereby follows the paradigm of public scholarship or scholarship of engagement. In addition, the research outcomes will contribute to stimulating new ideas, new debates and new ways of thinking about future policy models and practices. Further, feedbacks provided by the publics involved in the workshops will validate or not the research projects' outcomes and suggest new research questions. Beyond the Agora framework and its time horizon, this project seeks to foster long-lasting dialog practices and competences between researchers and society in the field of territorial innovation. This is also the objective of the steering group partners who are committed to continuing the initiated dialog beyond the project period through various dialog platforms. The communication experience acquired by all partners during the Agora project will contribute to the success of such a long-term initiative.