MULTISCALAR CLUSTERS AND NETWORKS AS THE FOUNDATIONS OF INNOVATION DYNAMICS IN THE BIOPHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Based on the case of the biopharmaceutical industry, the aim of this paper is to challenge the core conviction now widespread within the “spatial clustering theory”, which devotes a key (if not exclusive) role to geographical proximity in explaining clustering dynamics of innovation activities within spe-cific territories. Our argument is threefold. First, mere geographical proximity is not enough; in many cases, cognitive, organizational and strategic forms of proximity are often at least as crucial as the topological closeness among inno-vation actors. Second, our idea is that clusters are fundamentally the territoria-lized outcome of combinations of inter-organizational and social networks among actors pursuing common goals, each of these actors having a specific territorial and social embedding that allows him or her (or not) to operate and interact at different spatial scales. These networks are socially and territorially embedded, but they can operate at various spatial scales. Third, sector-driven dynamics – as is in the case of biopharmaceuticals – may structurally frame the way the actors interact and collaborate in R&D projects and innovation proce-sses. Indeed, the dynamics underlying the emergence, structuring and evolution of biopharmaceutical clusters are both multi-actor and multiscalar. In this perspective, clusters and networks appear to be intertwined phenomena, con-substantial one to each other, and co-evolving organizational modes of biop-harmaceutical innovation.BIOCLUSTERS, FORMS OF PROXIMITY, INNOVATION NETWORKS, SPATIAL SCALES

Sourire D\u27 Avril April Smiles

Woman wearing long white dress holding flowershttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/7647/thumbnail.jp

Using bacteriophages and antibiotics in combination to control pathogenic bacteria

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is becoming an increasing threat to the global public health and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections as it can quickly develop resistance to clinical antibiotics. The rise of MDR has rejuvenated interest in alternative therapies where, for example, pathogen-specific phages could be used on their own or alongside antibiotics to improve treatment efficacy. Benefits of phages include high pathogen specificity, efficacy against antibiotic-resistant bacterial genotypes and their ability to co-evolve to overcome evolution of phage resistance. Phages also have low toxicity to the patients, minimal disruption of the patient’s microbiota, and can auto- “dose” themselves by replicating in their host pathogens. This research investigates using phages and antibiotics in combination therapy in vitro against the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial pathogen. The main aim was to identify effective phage-antibiotic combinations using various commonly used clinical antibiotics and LPS and pilus-targeting phages that have been shown to be effective against P. aeruginosa previously. Results show that certain combinations of antibiotics and bacteriophages are more efficient at suppressing bacterial growth than the others. Specifically, it was found that antibiotic combinations retain their synergies, antagonistic or not, even when phages are added. Furthermore, we show that two bacteriophages alongside one antibiotic is likely to be the best combination for designing efficient phage-antibiotic therapy cocktails. Interestingly, antibiotic-phage synergies were different when applied against clinical P. aeruginosa strains. Together, these results suggest further research on combination therapies aimed to suppress bacterial growth is needed, and specifically, combinations therapies need to be tested not only against laboratory but also against clinical strains to obtain effective outcomes

la responsabilité globale des entreprises du service public marchand : vers un élargissement de la notion de responsabilité sociale et environnementale

Ce document cherche à identifier les pratiques responsables des services publics marchands (SPM), prémisses d’une responsabilité plus « globale » des entreprises (au sens plus large du terme). Ces entreprises du SPM, qui ont eu l’habitude de gérer des conflits contradictoires entre leurs missions de service public et leurs impératifs de rentabilité, développent aujourd’hui des solutions innovantes pour coordonner les intérêts divergents de leurs parties prenantes. Cet article met ainsi en évidence l’existence d’une autre conception de la RSE (responsabilité sociale et environnementale de l’entreprise) relativement peu (voire pas du tout) traitée par la littérature étudiant cette question " This paper tries to identify French for-profit public services’ sustainable business strategies which could lead to a “global” responsibility (i.e. an economical, social and environmental responsibility). These organizations have always managed contradictory aims between their public missions and their profitability. They try to develop new solutions in order to coordinate the contradictory objectives of their stakeholders. This paper highlights the existence of another conception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).public sector, enterprise, social, environmental responsability

Les clusters et les reseaux comme fondements de la dynamique d'innovation dans l'industrie biopharmaceutique (Clusters and networks as the foundations of innovation dynamics in the biopharmaceutical industry)

Pour rendre compte des phénomènes de réticularisation et d’agglomération croissantes des activités d’innovation, de nombreux travaux empiriques et théoriques dans diverses disciplines (économie, sociologie, géographie, management) ont souligné l’importance des logiques de proximité. C’est dans ce cadre que s’est forgée l’idée que c’est au sein des clusters que se gagne désormais la compétition induite par les dynamiques d’innovation soutenue et de globalisation rapide, notamment dans les secteurs high-tech. Toutefois, en dépit d’une très large diffusion, cette conviction manque aujourd’hui encore d’assise théorique et empirique. À partir du cas de la biopharmacie, cet article cherche ainsi à montrer que si les clusters sont une des conditions permissives du processus de production et de diffusion de l’innovation, ils n’en constituent pas pour autant une condition suffisante, ni même forcément la forme organisationnelle et spatiale la plus adaptée, en particulier dans un contexte de plus en plus incertain et globalisé. In order to explain why innovation activities are increasingly structuring through networking and agglomeration dynamics, numerous empirical and theoretical works in various disciplines (economics, geography, sociology, management) have stressed the crucial role of spatial proximity. Following this conviction, the idea has emerged that “clusters” has become the key competitive tools within a context of sustained innovation dynamics and rapid globalization, notably in high-tech industries. However, despite its wide spread among academics and practitioners, this conviction still lacks solid theoretical and empirical foundations. Drawing from the case of biopharmaceuticals, this paper aims at showing that if clusters are one of the keys of the processes underlying innovative activities and the diffusion of innovations, they are far from constituting a sufficient condition or even more necessarily the appropriate organizational and spatial form of these processes, particularly in a context of globalization and growing uncertainties.Bioclusters, Emergence and Structuring Dynamics, Forms of Proximity,Innovation Networks, Spatial Scales

De la responsabilité sociale des acteurs

Nous montrons ici, sans prétendre à l’exhaustivité, quels sont, au-delà des (grandes) entreprises, les autres acteurs intéressés à réclamer leur part de responsabilité vis-à-vis du développement durable. Nous nous demandons quelles sont leurs motivations, leurs objectifs et leurs moyens d’action, et si ces moyens sont les mêmes pour tous les acteurs. Le mouvement de revendication d’une responsabilité de la part de nombreux acteurs est replacé dans le cadre plus général des évolutions (économiques, sociales, environnementales, géopolitiques, etc.) des trente dernières années. La première section de cet article explique l’émergence de la notion de responsabilité des acteurs (RSA), clarifie les relations entre RSA et développement durable, puis montre les variantes géographiques de la RSA. La seconde section s’attache aux différents acteurs de la RSA et compare leurs objectifs et moyens d’action

Bruno Boidin, 2014, La santé, bien public mondial ou bien marchand ? Réflexions à partir des expériences africaines, Villeneuve d’Ascq, Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 184 pages

L’épidémie de fièvre Ebola, les ravages du virus HIV, du paludisme et de la tuberculose, ou la persistance de la mortalité infantile et maternelle dans de nombreux pays ont récemment reposé avec acuité la question de l’accès aux soins des populations les plus démunies. Dans ce contexte où, selon l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS), « le monde a fait des progrès spectaculaires pour améliorer la santé dans les pays les plus pauvres et les écarts ont diminué ces deux dernières décennies en..