Having completed our survey phase on paradigm shifts in economic development, since September we’ve been tackling the testing grounds, from Lille to Montpellier, via Figeac, Rennes and Grenoble. How can economic development teams be re-tooled to reach the companies least equipped to face the challenges of transition? How can we equip ourselves to implement business location strategies that are more consistent with the region’s ecological and social needs? Can we rethink inter-territorial cooperation based on a region’s vulnerabilities? What is the profile of tomorrow’s economic developer? Here’s a sneak preview of the first experiments underway as part of Rebonds.
Ecological and social criteria alone are not enough to guide business location…
While the development of tools such as the eco-conditionality of subsidies is intended to encourage companies to set up operations that are more aware of their territorial responsibilities, in practice it is not enough simply to examine business location projects in the light of ecological and social criteria: economic activities generate environmental pollution that is difficult to measure, the jobs created do not always correspond to the profile of the local workforce, and new locations can increase pressure on public services, housing, etc. What avenues could be explored to boost ambition in this area? How can we raise our ambitions in this area?
The metropolis of Montpellier has set up an ecological and social evaluation grid for business locations. However, its use remains internal and does not involve companies, and the current siting process does not allow for reliable measurement or support for companies in taking their ecological and social impact into account over the long term. Our hypothesis is that improvements will be achieved through a more collective learning process, directly involving companies and taking greater account of their realities, and those of the administration and elected representatives.
What we’ll be testing: A location evaluation grid with social and environmental criteria prototyped and tested with “accomplice” companies, in order to better qualify location projects on these social and environmental issues and better support companies.
Experiment with new ways of supporting small and medium-sized businesses in ecological transitions, using accounting firms
Economic development teams struggle to reach out to and mobilize small and medium-sized businesses in the transition process, due to a lack of knowledge of and access to these companies on the one hand, and a lack of availability on the part of their managers on the other. Yet these companies are particularly vulnerable and often lack the engineering resources to adapt. Would the “intermediary” players close to very small businesses, such as chartered accountants, banks, insurance firms, etc., be in a position to identify, advise and support their customers in their transition trajectory, and thus develop a new transition consulting offer?
At present, economic development teams such as those in Grenoble and Rennes have no direct contact with these “intermediary” players, and the latter are unfamiliar with the assistance and support schemes for transitions developed by local authorities, from which their clients could benefit. We hypothesize that, with a better knowledge of these schemes, and through dialogue with economic development teams, chartered accountants could incorporate a transition advice/relay service into their services, and thus encourage VSE-SMEs to take action (energy renovation of their buildings, decarbonization of their mobility, adaptation of their business model , etc. ). And that, in turn, this will enable the community to better tailor its support offer to the needs of very small businesses.
What we‘re going totry out is how 3 or 4 chartered accountancy firms, with the support of the economic development team, can take on board the business transition support mechanisms they consider most relevant, and test their integration into their services with some of their VSE-SME clients.
Making better use of research for development policieslopeconomic development policies that take better account of a region’s vulnerabilities.
How can we rethink a region’s economic development policy, particularly in light of its dependence on resources? Under what conditions can these vulnerabilities and interdependencies offer a starting point for initiating cooperation between territories? How can collaboration between public action and scientific research be improved, so that the latter is more useful to agents and elected representatives?
The ReSyst research program explores local economic development models and the material and immaterial flows that underpin and link them, with the hypothesis that a better understanding of these flows would help local public and private players to increase the economic resilience of their territory, in a context of ecological transition.
As part of Rebonds, with the PETR Figeac Vallée de Dordogne, we’re taking the opportunity offered by ReSyst to look at how data objectifying interdependencies between territories could help elected representatives to engage in dialogue and cooperation, in a context where the vision of economic development remains fairly dispersed across the territory, and where little cooperation exists around the management of resources under pressure, such as water or wood, for example.
What we’ll be testing: How can we move from diagnosis to action? To this end, we are designing two experiments:
- a discussion tool for stakeholders, elected representatives and local public servants to embrace the controversies that emerge from the diagnosis, and thus support its appropriation, going beyond the “facts” presented to grasp the tensions they raise, and the points to be arbitrated in order to move forward collectively.
- A welcome and training kit for future elected representatives elected representativesThe kit takes the form of a series of conversations/micro-surveys to continuously update and embody the diagnosis with the experiences of local players, and to train new elected officials by embodying the diagnosis with examples from the field.
Building the skills of the developer economic developer of tomorrow
While economic development teams are often populated by 5-legged sheep, today they are confronted with, in no particular order, the lack of impact of their traditional tools on a large number of companies, the disappearance of certain levers for their actions such as land, the pitfalls of a policy conducted in silos when it needs a “wide angle” vision and strategic perspectives, etc.
The Cnam, Intercommunalités de France and ANCT are launching a new training program for Territorial Economic Developers. In 6 sessions, the aim is to equip these agents with a wide range of profiles to meet today’s challenges. As part of Rebonds, an experimental dimension will be added, to help reinforce its relevance to the challenges and needs of participants and their communities, in the context of ecological transition and social justice.
What we’ll be experimenting with : Taking as our starting point the findings of the Rebonds survey phase, we would like to co-construct and test, with participants and the teaching team, a maturity grid for economic developers.
Negotiating land use
Local authorities, particularly metropolitan areas, arecurrently faced with a scarcity of available land on their territory, leading to exacerbated competition between its various possible uses. What is perceived today as a brake on economic development could, on the contrary, be seen as an opportunity to make better use of land, more sparingly (particularly in terms of natural resources), more cooperatively, and better meeting the needs and challenges of the region and its inhabitants.
Several recent situations have made the European metropolis of Lille aware of the need for greater coordination between MEL departments (economic development, housing, energy, mobility, etc.) on the use of the (last) available land. What form of negotiation, dialogue and coordination should be instituted to promote a more cross-functional, integrated vision? How can we establish mutual vigilance between departments on possible synergies, to optimize the use of land?
What we’ll be experimenting with A workshop to “replay” with the departments concerned the arbitration process that recently took place on the future of a wasteland, and produce common specifications for optimizing the land and prefiguring a forum for dialogue on the future use of MEL land.