Concept of pole of competence or, the relatively new term thus being not stabilized, of , development pole competitiveness or excellence , being belonged to the economy of the territories.
A pole of competence is an area, generally urbanized, where know-how in a technical field accumulates, which can get a competitive Avantage at the planetary level once reached a Critical mass. Prosperity thus brought tends to be propagated with the other local activities, in particular of service and subcontracting.
Theoretical contributions
One can find the germs of the principles underlying the poles of competence in the theory of the comparative advantages of the classical economist David Ricardo: each country (or each area) gains to specialize in the production where it has a relative advantage, i.e. where it is relatively the best or the least bad.Michael Porter took as a starting point the theory of the comparative advantages to propose in 1990 the concept of poles of competence ( competitive clusters ) which gather, on the same geographical area and in specific branches of activity, a critical mass of resources and competences getting for this zone a key position in the world economic competition.
It is not possible to evoke the concept of pole of competitiveness without referring to the author of " The hand visible" , i.e., Alfred Chandler . Economic professor of history in Harvard, it will be the first to highlight the first mover and the importance, for the growth of a company, a development based on the cluster . In this context its fundamental work is Scale and Scope . One could consider it regrettable that this work is not had a larger impact in France and this in particular on the level of the senior officials who had to treat poles of competitiveness.
Role of the formation, types of poles
In all the cases, the Formation and the Know-how, on level of world excellence, play a part in the existence of these poles. From this point of view one can classify them in two categories:
Poles resting on the high level scientific research (technopolises)
The pivot of such a zone of excellence is often a university equipped with a center of scientific research of reputation and very moved by the co-operation with the economic and financial entities local. It is the case of:
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the Silicon Valley which gathers these three competences: universities (Stanford, Berkeley, Santa Clara), technological companies (one of the first was Hewlett-Packard) and of the funds of Capital risk.
- agglomeration of Bangalore in India, become also a technological pivot of research and development on a worldwide scale: very many international technological companies are now established there.
- in Europe, areas of Cambridge, Grenoble, Toulouse, Munich, Dublin, of the Italian districts, etc
A very specific case is the transborder pole Biovalley, leader European of the life sciences, which are centered on the three areas of the higher Rhine in France, Germany and Switzerland.
One speaks in addition about poles of teaching and research concerning the regroupings of universities and research centres in units having the critical size as regards meeting about competences. That in particular aims at reaching an international repute and a good classification in the world comparisons, to attract the best teachers, researchers and students.
Poles resting on traditional know-how
Certain poles of competence do not have a direct relationship with the scientific research but maintained their advance in know-how during the ages: for example the Swiss for the Clock industry or Paris for the Haute couture and more largely for the industry of the luxury in general.
Importance in the modern economy
The development of such poles based on competence, and either as in the past on the natural resources, all its importance in the post-industrial economy takes whose raw materials are education, information, the knowledge to make, the creativity, and in which the competition is world.
So the existence of a pole of competence, in particular scientific, in a field with a future becomes a key factor of the economy of the development, including for the emergent countries which included/understood the importance to develop not only starting from low costs of labor in traditional industries, but also by technological competitiveness.
Poles of competitiveness in France
History
In France, the idea of poles of competitiveness was anchored in the Années 1970 on the concept of Technopole S, following the example Japan, and to a certain extent the United States. It gave place either has creations ex nihilo (examples of Sophia-Antipolis or Plateau of Saclay), or with developments of already dense zones (Grenoble, in data processing; Toulouse, in the Aerospace ).
The policy of the poles of competivity is decided at the time of the Inter-ministerial committee of installation and competitiveness of the territories (CIACT) of December 13rd, 2002. The CIACT of September 14th, 2004 defines of it the method of setting in oœuvre: calls for projects, on the basis of a Schedule of conditions. Meanwhile, several official reports specified the stakes.
The government launches the first call for projects the December 2nd 2004. This call, closed the February 28th 2005, gave place to a strong mobilization of the territories and companies.
The will first to concentrate on a restricted number of files was inflected: the government announced on July 12th of the same year that 67 of the 105 presented dossiers were retained, list reduced thereafter to 66 files after the fusion of two projects. However, a strong budgetary priority is brought to six of them, which have a “world” range and nine others which have “vocation” to acquire it. The global budget which is devoted to them passed from 0,75 to 1,5 billion euros over three years. The CIACT of the October 14th 2005 validated 55 of these projects. That of the December 20th 2005 confirmed nine additional projects, two other projects not having validated. In March 2006, the total control surface of the device and financing of the public share at summer entrusted, State side, with the head office of the Companies of the Ministry for the Economy, Finances and Industry, each pole being in addition equipped with tools of ad hoc control surface.
The 3rd call for candidate for the financing of the projects of the poles was closed on December 15th 2006. It gave place with 224 projects filed in to the head office of the Companies. This result amplifies the dynamics founded at the time of the first two calls for projects of the funds interdepartmental, whose installation was decided at the time of the CIACT of March 6th 2006. The results were announced in March 2007: 100 new projects of research and development, resulting from 47 poles of competitiveness, will receive an interdepartmental financing of the funds single.
In 2006,339 projects were appraised, of which 143 were retained. They correspond to approximately a billion euros of investments in R & D on the whole, of which a financing of 190 M€ on behalf of the State, which allowed to cause supports of the territorial collectivities height of 103M€. The funds interdepartmental is operational at the end of 2006 and more than 80% of the decided supports were concretized at the end of 2006 by the signature of conventions of assistance with the partners of the projects. One 4th call for projects was launched in March 2007.
It there today 71 poles of competitiveness in France gathering 9.000 researchers working out of 1.000 labellized projects. A public billion euros were invested since their launching in 2005, on an global envelope of 1,5 billion envisaged until 2008. 50% the resources are concentrated on six principal poles, said " mondiaux" , in opposition to the " nationaux" , like " System@tic" " (Ile-de-France), " " Minalogic" (Grenoble) or " Aerospace Valley" in South-west. Boston Consulting Group.
An evaluation was entrusted in September 2007 to the consultancy Boston Consulting Group.
Legal status
The poles of competitiveness are often, in practice, of the association S of the law of 1901. They can also take the form of groupings of economic interest (GIE) or groupings of scientific interest (GIS). They have the legal Personality.
Operation of the French poles of competitiveness
The CIADT of July 12th 2005 envisaged to allot an amount of 1,5 billion euros to the financing of the whole of the poles of competitiveness. The financial advantages conferred on the programs associated with the poles of competitiveness are:
- of the tax exemptions and reductions in charges (300 million euros). A company taking part in a research and development draft in a zone defined for this purpose does not pay the income tax or on the companies on the benefit which it carries out during the first three years (Finance law for 2005, Article 24). The zones of “zoning R & D” concerned correspond about to the perimeter of the poles of competitiveness.
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of the intervention appropriations to support the projects of research and development (400 million euros, including 121 registered voters with the budget for 2006). These appropriations come in particular:
- of the delegated minister in load of industry.
- of the DIACT (Funds national of installation and development of the territory, premiums of town and country planning).
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of the preferential interventions on behalf of various organizations (800 million euros):
- National agency of research created on February 7th, 2005.
- Agency of the industrial innovation proposed by Jean-Louis Beffa (decree of August 26th, 2005), amalgamated since September 2007 with Oseo Anvar.
- Group OSEO: National agency of valorization of research (ANVAR), Banks of development of the PME (BDPME).
- Deposit and consignment office.
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at the local level, the local government agencies and territorial are not remains about it as regards financing.
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Enfin one should not neglect the action of the DRIRE which finance a certain number of class action suits initiated by poles of competitiveness.
Put questions
It will be noticed that the French system of poles of competitiveness, which should certainly cause co-operation and dynamism better between the actors, brings to raise the following questions:
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the main question is the model of the Innovation. In the economy of the knowledge, the Rentabilité of the projects of Ingénierie of knowledge is based on the evaluation of the immaterial Capital of the companies and the Public administrations. In France, the Information systems often rest still on old models, and are in very fast evolution, and the Knowledge management can be developed still better. That has an impact on implementation the effective in France of the Stratégie of Lisbon on the Innovation. Which are they the Schémas of classification employed, are on the same level as their counterparts in other developed countries?
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the evaluation of this Capital immaterial in the case of associations between Undertaken S, Centers of studies and research, and University S, under the aegis of district councils and Chambers of commerce and industry is very complex, in particular on the plan of the relational capital and the organisational Capital, especially concerning the purely territorial structures. The question of the evaluation arises, given that a new procedure cannot be evaluated without an unquestionable retreat (it is the case for European PCRDT), at least 5 years, and more often exceeding the decade. The methods evaluation are the work object of deepening in 2007.
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the rules of Information system security in the case of division of Information S of this nature are very complex. The French efforts of standardization are late compared to those of other countries, the United States in particular. It is necessary to implement total Norme S making it possible to carry out the Interopérabilité between the different Information systems of Partenaire S, under a legal angle, functional, and technical. It is the object of the Registres of metadata, but there does not exist yet of official translation of the international standard Dublin Core.
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the poles are mainly centered on industry, but this one must be heard in the broad sense, of industry and services in industrial matter, given that the current economy (" post-industrial ") develops rather by externalisation by the industry of services, as by autonomous services (the services account for 70% of the GDP in France). In the case of finance, the pole of competitiveness Finance Innovation was labellisé in July 2007. Its founding members are the FBF, the FFSA, the AFG, the CCIP, NYSE Euronext, the Town of Paris and the Area Ile de France. It is one of the septs world poles labellized, on the 71 labellized poles.
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It does not have there autonomous universities, except for some derogatory statutes (University of Paris Dauphine for example) the bonds between universities and companies remain often difficult.
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a debate exists on the suitable degree of centralization of piloting. Some estimate it concentrated too much, in the tradition of the Town and country planning issued of Paris in a field which should on the contrary avoid to the maximum the bureaucracy and relate to the local level, Europe and the international grid. Others make the point that the device of the poles of competitiveness was catalytic where a purely decentralized operation of the areas, which had a priori the right to take initiatives, was not enough to create the impulse necessary, and that in addition the projects take of European width only in so far as they were developed with an intensity and a sufficient follow-up at the national level
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There is a certain émiettage of the projects. However, the means remain focused on the principal poles. As example, over the year 2005, within the framework of the National agency from research, 80% of the subsidies granted to the projects of poles were intended for 20% poles (ten on the whole)
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In addition, if a good portion of the projects have chances of success, one can fear that some of them did not profit from a nudge in the right direction of town councilors introduced well into the ministerial circles and that they do not concretize all the hopes placed in them. Some are in competition (maritime poles in Brittany and PACA), others will have evil to create an international notoriety (countries as the Brésil have experience other than that of the area Champagne-Ardenne as regards Biocarburant S)…
References
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