The territorial dimension of the productive organizations has been strangely neglected by scientists for a long time. Many reasons can be put forward : some of them considered the existence of a given territorial frame as obvious; some others, characterizing the territory by its owns productions factors, thought that the companies had to face this environment by judicious locations ; but all of them portrayed the territory as an empty frame with no socio-cultural meanings. Thanks to Italian economists, regional geographists and sociologists, a new attention has been given to the "territory" and to the "local": toward the end of the 1960s, these scientists decided to focus on the industrial district characterizing the "third Italy" and they pointed out the endogenous factors of development and the socio-cultural features as the keys of its dynamism . They also defined the "industrial district" as a conglomeration of small and medium-size companies bound by competition and cooperation leading to a cost-reduction in the local market . The perpetuation of this model is made possible by the interpenetration of the companies with the local communities . However, even if this theory has restored territory's reputation and transformed it in a tool for analysis, we have to admit that the widespread fascinating influence of this Italian model for the industrial district (and its conceptual offsprings such as "système productif localisé", "milieu innovateur", cluster) restrains now the research by leading us to look for the tricks of the Italian district in every successful one .

On the one hand, studies available on industrial districts are not completely satisfying, even in the Italian case : some of them have been emphasized whereas recent studies just don't fit a framework which is not integrating the genesis of these districts and bypass some embarrassing phenomenon anyway (like relocations, integrations, penetration of multinational companies, impact of globalisation, impoverishment of social capital, difficult successions and extensions of the shadow economy…) . Finally, some of the hypothesis made on these districts have to be challenged by many empirical and detailed studies (presence of common values and of a social consensus, vigorous entrepreneurship, intensity of cooperation between companies, role of the State) .

On the other hand, we have to keep the Italian industrial district in perspective : it would be a mistake to identify it as a conceptual framework for the territorial organization of the industrial production because of a real diversity in the productive organizations (in terms of sizes and configurations) on the territory (industrial basin, industrial district, industrial city district, metropolitan areas, technopoles, industrial regions, regional firms networks …) .

At the junction between regional history, industrial history and entrepreneurship history, this comparative research program (starting in 1750 and working on the world level ) fits into the trend advocating the rediscovery of the local and refuse to consider space as an outside datum and studies the dynamics underlying the building up of territories into economic, social and cultural units out of which firms summon the resources necessary to their growth . In this perspective only, we'll be able to portray the real specific features of today's clusters which, from Tuscany to California, from Bade-Wurtemberg to Indonesia, play such an important part in the economic growth .

The analysis of case studies will span the national historical context, the overall transformation within the territory and the driving forces of its development.

First, while a number of studies, mainly by Italian scholars, look upon districts as isolated and self-contained worlds, cut from society at large and from the State, the comparative approach will be rewarding only if we link case studies to the national context, which cannot be separated from the different stages of the development of capitalism.

Secondly this research-program would like to investigate, over the years, the different ways followed by this industrials territories, questioning the conditions of their emergence and underlying the possible consequences of an industrialization which may affect their development (path-dependence). This project would like also to find out if territories have their owns life cycles. Moreover, our study will not limit itself to the "successful regions" but will also deal with failures which enlighten the contradictions within the chosen way.

Thirdly, the hypothesis that industrial territories owe their economic growth (or lack of growth) to their inner dynamism leads us to wonder about the part played by social behaviours and cultural values in entrepreneurship and competitiveness among territories ; the influence of the institutional framework over their regulation ; the intensity of the links between companies according to their size and organisation ; how clustering leads to agglomeration economies ; how technological changes came about and spread within places where the production system, the technological culture and the relationship between the different partners mingle harmoniously ; how important the surrounding services are (bank, research, educational system…); the part played by the labour-market structures that are more or less an incentive to labour mobility; and finally the interactions between "local" and "global" in an historical perspective . Moreover, we'll have to check whether similar logics can be found in territories where farming or tourism is the main activity .

The conclusions of this program will be debated during two international pre-conferences taking place in Besançon-France in autumn 2004 (focusing on case-studies ) and in Neuchâtel-Switzerland in autumn 2005 ( with a thematic approach) before being presented to the Helsinki world congress . The number of papers anticipated for each conference is about 25. Many scientists from various nationalities are welcomed to take part to the program and no exclusive list of participants has been made so far . The papers will be published before the Helsinki congress.

The organizers have already done research on the territorial dimension of the productive organizations and held several conferences on the topic :
-Les districts industriels (Besançon, 1999, colloque franco-italien)
-La politique d'aménagement du territoire en France : racines, logiques et résultats (Besançon, 2000, colloque international).
-Les systèmes productifs dans l'Arc Jurassien : acteurs, pratiques et territoires (Besançon, 2002, colloque franco-suisse)

The main organizer, Jean-Claude Daumas, has published several papers or books on the question:
-"Districts industriels : un concept en quête d'histoire", 19-20, 2000, n°4.
-"La draperie elbeuvienne à l'époque contemporaine (1870-1975) : territoire, structures des entreprises et coordination de la production", in M. Lescure, J. F. Eck (eds.), Villes et districts industriels en Europe aux XIXe et XXème siècles, Tours, Publications de l'Université François Rabelais, 2002.
-"La décentralisation industrielle entre création d'emplois et effets déstructurants. Le cas de Renault à Cléon (1951-1975), in J-C Daumas, P. Caro, O. Dard (eds), La politique d'aménagement du territoire en France, Rennes, PUR, 2002.
-"Le Consortium de l'industrie textile de Roubaix-Tourcoing et la régulation du marché local du travail (1919-1938), in P. Vernus, Les organisations patronales. Une approche locale, Cahiers du Centre Pierre Léon, n°1, 2002.
-Les territoires de la laine, à paraître en 2003 aux Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.
-Les systèmes productifs dans l'Arc jurassien (ed.), à paraître en 2003 aux Presses Universitaires Franc-comtoises.

Board of Organizers : Jean-Claude Daumas (Professeur, Université de Franche-Comté à Besançon, directeur de l'Ecole doctorale " LETS " de l'UFC et de l'Action Concertée Incitative " Espaces et Territoires ", Membre du Comité directeur de l'Association Française des Historiens Economistes), Pierre Lamard (Maître de conférences, Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard, directeur de la Jeune Equipe n° 2331 " Recherches sur les choix industriels, technologiques et scientifiques ") and Laurent Tissot (Professeur associé, Université de Neuchâtel, Membre fondateur de la Commission internationale pour l'histoire du voyage et du tourisme).

Advisory Council : Dominique Barjot (Université de Paris IV), Jean-Claude Daumas (Université de Besançon), Giovanni Luigi Fontana (Université de Padoue), Patrick Fridenson (EHESS), Pierre Lamard (Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard), Michel Lescure (Université de Paris X), Philipp Scranton ( Rutgers University), Laurent Tissot (Université de Neuchâtel), John Wilson (Nottingham University).