ENTI 2010 – Strasbourg

Abstract from the

  Second call for Papers of the Annual Conference of territorial Intelligence (1.5 MiB, 204 hits)

This 9th International Conference of Territorial Intelligence is both organized by the Relais Emploi de Strasbourg and by the European Network of Territorial Intelligence, ENTI. ENTI gathers in Europe and in the world 29 research teams and 17 territorial actors whose Relais Emploi de Strasbourg. This conference wishes to give an important place to the public, private and associative actors of the sustainable development of territories, in particular in the framework of the themes B and C, concerning respectively analysis and dissemination of the innovating practices.

The topic ” Europe moving towards a new path of economic growth and social development “ takes place in the general directions of the first call for papers: the combination of the objectives of sustainable development and socio-ecological transition. This last has been the focus of our last international conference “Territorial Intelligence and Socio-Ecological Prospective” held in Nantes and Rennes from March 24 to 26, 2010. The topic “Europe moving towards a new path of economic growth and social development” questions the link between economic and social priorities, highlighting the tensions between economic and social priorities that will characterize the socio-ecological transition. The questions raised by this topic to the research are to conduct structural reforms, policy initiatives and governance, the link between research, innovation and productive activities, territories and cultural context. This last one has been the focus of the international conference “Territorial Intelligence and Culture of Development” in Salerno on November 4-7, 2009. Needless to recall the interest for the territories of the territorial intelligence, the object of which is, in terms of knowledge as to the action level, the combination of economic, social, environmental and cultural objectives of the sustainable development.

In the knowledge society, innovation conjugating these goals is the key to the success of socio-ecological transition in Europe, and the project “new-LIFE” is intended to respond primarily through international conference, to the question of Europe on a vision integrated innovation:

How will the Member States and the EU adapt and coordinate their research, innovation and industrial policies towards the socio-ecological transition? What are the best practices in combining technological, economic and social innovations? What are their economic efficiency, their social equity and their environmental performance? What are the new sectors that may develop alongside the socio-ecological transition?

A recent report by the European Commission, “The World in 2025”, cries out for a socio-ecological transition to address the worrying decline of jobs in Europe, greatly exacerbated by the current crisis and suggests to take advantage of environmental and demographic challenges to invent a new mode of development.
The transition toward a “socio-ecological” model must meet the requirements of environment and social cohesion that will push humanity towards a new way of producing, consuming, living, travel, etc.

Consumers will insulate their houses, replace their car by a smaller one, they will walk, they will use public transport.
Companies will reorganise their logistics, they will adapt their products and processes, they will relocate certain activities, they will locate their warehouses closer to train stations, they will substitute wood for plastics, they will produce more easily repairable products or will recycle them more.
States will develop spatial planning approaches that take into account the increasing transport costs. They will encourage renewable energy, “clean” fossil fuels technologies and nuclear energy.

(European commission, the world in 2025, p.23)

The socio-ecological transition is based on the increase of products and services related to the environmental consequences of natural resource depletion and climate change, an aging population, the development of deprivation and human mobility, and training needs associated with new skills.
Innovation is a critical subject in the second activity because we couldn’t imagine a socio-ecological transition without ecological and social innovation.
The importance given to innovation is one of the main features of the knowledge society and an essential component of development for decades to come. Many theoretical works have been published about this issue but these works mainly concern the industrial innovation on the one hand, and it is more difficult to find tests on concrete experiences and their dissemination on the other.

The “Labo d’économie sociale et solidaire”(lab of social economy), manage by Claude Alphandéry has identified innovative experiences in France and offers fifty recommendations to sustain and develop these experiences. The main objectives of these recommendations are:

•    Investing in the public interest in creating meaningful activities for all and good jobs
•    Set limits on the market and reduce inequalities
•    Reaffirm the social issues of sustainable development
•    Empowering citizens with economic
•    Make the territory the heart of the real economy.

The economic, ecological, social, financial and cultural crisis reinforced the precariousness of human groups and areas most vulnerable. The threats they pose to the planet and humanity cause deep reflection on our ways of production, consumption, investment and distribution.

Sustainable development represents the best hope for change, is too often reduced to “reconcile economic performance and environmental friendliness”, forgetting the backbone “social” and the need for democratic governance. However, populations and areas most vulnerable, both north and south are always the first victims of degradation of the planet. The environment can’t be the new spring growth overall, without a profound questioning of our patterns of production and consumption with the objective of improving the quality of life for all.

With an economy more concerned with short-term profitability of financial investments that human needs, the territories subject to the social, environmental and cultural costs of the globalization are building resilience to external shocks in developing cooperation, Energy savings based on proximity and on development of services to individuals and public interest. The territories are already the scenes of multiple ecological and social innovations. But often the question arises of the role of government, state and territorial communities, the level of support to innovative initiatives.