Each day the Métropole du Grand Paris proves its openness to innovation with the emergence of new places and practices in the entrepreneurial world, and new practices and methods among its inhabitants particularly in the urban field. In this new landscape, how can these developments be assessed? What transformations in work spaces and space itself within the city are just around the corner?
Apur’s 2015-2016 partnership work program includes preparatory work on setting up an observatory of economic innovation. In addition to studies instigated on a national and regional level, Apur, in partnership with Paris&Co the referent of pluridisciplinary innovation, has gathered and documented data describing and mapping innovation in the metropolis. This could be the beginnings of a tool for sharing knowledge between different territories and nourishing future debates, notably for drawing up the regional economic, innovation and internationalisation development Master Plan which is in process.
The work carried out in 2016 laid the groundwork and marked out elements of the context: putting existing data and images into perspective in order to describe innovative companies and startups; a work of description and mapping of existing places and projects benefiting from business start-up and maturation assistance (incubators, nurseries and accelerators) and new collaborative work spaces (digital manufacturing workshops and co-working spaces), a general overview of the profusion of projects which is turning the city into a laboratory of innovation to which it is either subjected or supportive of.
All this work in the field of innovation in the metropolis and the support strategies needs to be continued in liaison with numerous public and private partners. Apur therefore plans to update the database on places housing innovation put together this year. We also intend to identify a small number of indicators so that incubators and startups can be following in a way that is both simple and rigorous. Another objective is to start gathering information about innovative political initiatives in the territories.