Accompanying social innovation through research in a regional nature park in France: a feedback

Abstract

The regional nature parks in France are often presented as " laboratories of innovation ". Their main added value deals with social innovation, in other words the construction of territorial dynamics of collective action. Essential but much more discreet and more complex to pilot than technical innovation, social innovation is a large part of the daily work of agents, managers and elected representatives of parks. It leads to a relational dynamic and a specific identity for these territories. Taking the example of the regional nature park of Vercors, we describe the difficult conditions and the narrow path of social innovation around the construction of a shared vision by the park's joint association. A first analysis of this current dynamic allows to highlight advances, but also fragilities. These are due to the sociological and organizational components, which distinguish social from technical innovation. This gives meaning to a close partnership between the research and these «laboratories of innovation " that are the parks. This calls for a specific attitude towards supporting public decision-makers through research that "mirrors the action that is being carried out".