ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to discuss the ability of a very specific spatial context to adapt to structural change. This context is the international industrial park of Sophia-Antipolis, located near Nice on the French Riviera. It is very specific because this project started from nothing and has progressively structured in this region a real industrial capacity that represents around 15,000 jobs today. In the first part of this chapter, we will describe the success of this venture in quantitative terms by characterising its essential features over time. What is important in this first section is to highlight the main sectorial features of the project and the evolution that it has exhibited since its inception at the beginning of the 1970s. This allows a consideration of the different structural phases through which it has successfully adapted. In the second part of this chapter, we will focus on the qualitative relationships that exist currently among the components of this productive area. This is to show, firstly, how and why structural adaptations occur in this area, and, secondly, the major difficulties faced by this area in adapting to such changes. Because of an external crisis due to industrial restructuring across Europe, one might argue that the dominant external uncertainty facing firms and other actors involved in the venture is turning into a means of favouring local relationships and collective learning between the internal components of the project. This is essentially because the international science park is considered a very suitable place to work, and individuals do not want to leave.
