4th Annual Meeting of JSRSAI, Kyoto (Japan Section of RSAI) "Policy for Conservation and Continuity of Historic Cities" Ritsumeikan University Kyoto, October 6-8, 2017 Regional innovation and social capital: the case of French agriculture

The paper describes the importance of social capital as a major cause of regional innovation in French agriculture. According to Landry et al. (2000), innovation as a concept implies not only the development of technical solutions but also a process involving social interactions. The social capital seen as a valuable resource in French agriculture is developed differently by local professional identities (Ceapraz and Delhoume, 2014). Indeed the local development is the major source of collective and social action and different spatial scales (mostly rural) should determine different levels of social capital. Thus regional innovation might be analyzed through the importance of social capital developed at different geographical scales. The development of these collective professional identities and rural professional memberships in French agriculture play a key role especially for the development of rural areas. Thus we consider that social capital as a real priority and a major asset in diffusing and improving regional innovation.