Regional Nature Park, land of social innovation? When collective territorial intelligence reinvents living space: compared analysis of two cases France-Germany[Les Parcs Naturels Régionaux, terres d’Innovation sociale ? Quand le système d’intelligence collective territoriale réinvente l’espace de vie : analyse comparée de deux technostructures France-Allemagne]

One of the objectives of French regional nature parks (RNPs) is to experiment with new innovations and activities in their territory. It is these experiments that interest this article, in particular those dealing with social value. It investigates the collective intelligence system that emerges from the involvement of stakeholders during the development of this type of innovation. In other words, what form does the collective territorial intelligence take during the creation and development of social innovations? To do this, two structures are studied, one French, the other German. The comparison of these parks makes it possible to highlight the techno-structural and cultural differences in the development of social innovations. The results obtained show that although the French technostructure is, by virtue of their organisation, subject to injunctions, they particularly advocate inter-sectoral collaboration and form a solid support. In contrast, the German technostructure does not advocate innovation aims and appears to have a higher level of hierarchical distance. Despite these distinctions, the results indicate innovations in both cases studied but give an advantage to the French version. They confirm the role of the NRP as both initiator and coordinator (or both) of collective intelligence systems inducing social innovations.