Page 134 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

102 5 General Conclusion

Several characteristics can be identified to explain the competitiveness of indus-
trial clusters:

– The presence of exogenous factors such as demand, local resources and
infrastructure.
– The presence of endogenous factors linked to the nature and quality of the
interaction between the members of the cluster, often relatively informal and
unplanned.

These characteristics can be found at Bazancourt-Pomacle.
1
In line with Porter, interaction and information sharing is combined with a
conception of relative exclusiveness: the industrial cluster has a supply of
competences, shared tools and tacit knowledge, accompanied by mechanisms to
limit its propagation outside the cluster.
The structures of the IEB innovation platform, BIODEMO (and perhaps in the
near future the FUTUROL facilities) and the private, shared research centre ARD,
are examples of “open” tools access to which is selective. The Chairs of the CEBB
also apply these double standards by working for the benefit of all (published
scientific knowledge) while at the same time protecting their industrial property
rights and confining some of their information sharing with other biorefinery
stakeholders within a framework that is both formal and informal.
Other authors (Piore and Sabel 1984) have emphasised the notion of “flexible
specialisation,” or the ability to react quickly to changing circumstances. They add
that these “regional agglomerations” are based on combinations of inter-firm
contacts and institutional support and on the existence of a community of reference.
We have identified these four dimensions in the Bazancourt-Pomacle case.
The notion of institutional support can have two meanings. It can suggest a
favourable regional context (in the sense that local authorities and the regulatory
framework support the activity of the industrial cluster). It can also mean institu-
tional mechanisms that guarantee in some degree the integrity of exchanges
between the members of the cluster (chiefly peer judgment and the risk of
quarantining or even of excluding firms or individuals who betray the implicit
trust between members).
Overall, the Bazancourt-Pomacle integrated biorefinery corresponds perfectly
well to these different notions of industrial district or cluster. The question arises as
to the economic rationale justifying its existence.

1.2 Biorefinery and Economic Rationale

Our discussion of the case of the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery in the previous
chapters reveals three economic dimensions related to economics as a whole, or

1
Tallman et al. (2004).