Au-delà de l’archétype métropolitain, penser des territoires d’innovation pluriels

Abstract

Used as a label in territorial marketing or as a tool for territorial development, the notion of innovation territory is understood, in this article, as a set of rhetoric. The analysis of these rhetoric leads the article to question the very specificity of these territories. It reveals the existence of a dominant discourse around the notion of innovation territories and examines the conceptual foundations of this metropolitan archetype. In a multidisciplinary approach, the reflection proposes to broaden the conception of innovation, by integrating social innovation, to consider plural territories of innovations. By examining new citizen initiatives in "marginalized" territories, the article tends to replace the metropolitan archetype by a typology of innovation territories. Hypotheses for characterizing these territories are put forward and into perspective with the emergence of alternative discourses on social innovation and a differential policy approach to innovation territories.