From territorial dynamics of innovation to territorial dynamics of evaluation

In the nineties, the watchmaking region of the Swiss Jura Arc became, with other emblematic regions such as the Silicon Valley and the Third Italy, an illustrative model of regional innovation and industrial resilience in a globalized post-Fordist economy. Is this region still exemplary to understand and to conceptualize contemporary issues of territorial development? What can be learnt from the Swiss watchmaking case to reconsider and renew current theories in regional studies and economic geography? This paper first highlights the conceptual dilemma posed by the evolution of the Swiss watchmaking industry in the last fifteen years with regard to the established territorial innovation models. It is argued that these models can explain how territorial dynamics are at the origin of economic change but not how the value of this change is territorially constructed. Based on different socio-economic theories of markets and on empirical illustrations of the Swiss watchmaking case, a relational, institutional and transactional approach to value is proposed. Building upon these socio-economic theories, the concept of "valuation" is introduced to interpret contemporary territorial dynamics of innovation. These dynamics are not only the capacity of a local innovation system to produce differently from competitors. They also imply the capacity of this system to embed in multi-local networks of co-production and consumption. Shifting from an "innovation" to a "valuation" paradigm, the paper finally concludes with some crucial issues for the Swiss Watchmaking industry today. It also opens promising research avenues to renew regional studies and economic geography in regard to the rise of a digitalized economy and to a transition towards new sustainability quality conventions in markets and society.