Innovation in Clusters

Conclusion

Recent clustering policies, marked in France since 2004 by the competitiveness clusters program, are presented as unprecedented, bringing about change in a sclerotic world where science and industry are insufficiently linked. As we reach the end of this book, we understand that clustering policies succeed in changing space by geographically grouping research and production activities. From there, it would seem that geographical proximity can be rationalized by means of accreditation strategies and service offers provided by public authorities. However, it seems less obvious to initiate cooperation between these accredited members. On the contrary, clustering generates multiple contradictions. Although it is thought to bring together groups and individuals with similar activities, through disciplinary qualifications, such as in biotechnology, or identities, such as the creative class, clustering nevertheless creates stresses between social fields with distinct logics and boundaries. Although public innovation policies attempt to blur these boundaries, particularly within the scientific field where researchers are encouraged to valorize their research through industrial collaboration or the creation of businesses, resistance remains.

Beyond the fact that it has a limited impact in terms of cooperation, the clustering process is paradoxical in several contexts, insofar as geographic clustering brings together distinct social groups. The constraint to cooperate places ...