IRETRA

The French economy and its territories have been experiencing a very significant deindustrialization since the second half of the 1970s. Deindustrialization (the decline in the number of jobs in the industrial sector) accelerated during the global crisis of 2007-2008, so much so that France is now among the European countries where the decline in industrial employment has been the greatest (- 2.5 million jobs between 1970 and 2019), and now represents only 11% of total employment (compared to 23.7% in 1970 according to INSEE). However, more and more voices are being heard among politicians, observers and economic actors to call urgently for an industrial renewal of France through the implementation of a powerful dynamic of reindustrialization, especially for strategic industries. The Covid-19 health crisis has given the objective of reindustrialization a sudden boost by providing a new argument of a profoundly political and geopolitical nature: that of national and European industrial sovereignty, an expression of the inseparable link between industry and the notions of power and strategic independence. Based on the improvement of the economy's competitiveness (which is the imperative prerequisite), the objective of reindustrialization has never been so credible, nor so much hoped for, because of this change in context which makes it feasible under certain conditions, a perspective which is also common to other industrialized countries. It is precisely in this context that the IRETRA project fits, whose content has gained in maturity, in hindsight and in conviction on the occasion of its third submission to the ANR. The IRETRA project is part of the Human and Social Sciences (SHS) and is led by 12 researchers who are committed to interdisciplinarity in order to raise the issue of territorial reindustrialization to the level of an object of study, which is not yet the case. This will be approached through its stakes, its conditions, its modalities, its current and future forms. Clearly positioned in axis 1.1 of the "CES 26 Innovation, work", this project intends to show that innovation in all its facets (technological, social, organizational), and work (from the perspective of its transformation and the rise of skills) are the main vectors that will make the reindustrialization of the French economy possible. How do they interact with each other? What types of management are used? How do local territories take hold of them or not through their actors and make their practices evolve? This project intends to take into account the complexity of these articulations, but also their promise for the future. Without being exclusive, these two essential vectors for the construction of the new attractiveness and competitiveness of territories will structure this project from start to finish. The challenges posed in terms of raising the level of qualifications, reducing the drudgery of work, developing initial and vocational training to meet employers' expectations, and the rapid transformation of professions will be studied. The project will also study the new relationships that are already developing between employees and technologies, following the advent of Industry 4.0 since the early 2010s. This has already begun to transform part of the industry by allowing it to remain in France and to redeploy there thanks to significant improvements in productivity and competitiveness; it is also likely to encourage relocation.