La politique régionale à l'ère des zones d'innovation: le cas de Technum Québec

Abstract

This article analyzes recent developments in regional innovation policy linked to Quebec's innovation zones agenda. Using a case study of the Technum innovation zone in Bromont, this article questions the real novelty of this policy, its ability to stimulate and support the networking of innovation players, as well as its potential to foster the industrial transformation of the regional economy. We present a critique of the geographical dimension of this economic development strategy, which, in principle, relies on local assets and dynamics, but which, in practice, relies on dynamics that are uneasily geographically circumscribed and which will face local pitfalls, particularly in terms of limited infrastructure capacity and social acceptability. These questions of policy effectiveness relate to the multi-level governance model underlying its design, which does not reflect the complex overlap of stakeholders and their various objectives.