Proximity, cooperation and innovation: what do we learn from empirical work on SMEs?

This article summarizes a body of empirical work dealing with the link between proximity, cooperation, innovation and location. Over the period 2006-2015, four surveys were conducted on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), supplemented by INSEE location data and about ten semi-directive interviews with SME managers. Our results show that the innovative capacity of SMES is no greater in large urban centers than in rural areas. They also help to explain this result. On the one hand, they reveal that cooperation is not a necessary condition for innovation. On the other hand, they relativize the role of geographical proximity and non-geographical forms of proximity in inter-firms relationships: first, geographical proximity does not always imply interaction; second, it does not always contribute to facilitating it. Finally, they highlight the plurality of geographical scales of cooperation of SMES, regardless of their location.