Executive Summary in English

This Travel Notebook No. 3 from CIME presents the main insights from a learning expedition organized by CIME in collaboration with the Human Capital and Innovation Chair at Grenoble INP IAE in November 2024, held in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne. The theme of the expedition was collaborative innovation networks.

Focused on the practices of several organizations (Michelin, Crédit Agricole’s “Village by CA” network, and the University of Clermont Auvergne), that are seeking new ways of collaborating within their region, the expedition brought together a dozen business participants. It produced both a detailed analysis of the open innovation practices implemented by each of these actors and a set of cross-cutting lessons designed to inspire companies wishing to develop more horizontal, territory-based approaches to innovation.

While all companies are concerned with optimizing their innovation capabilities, collaborative innovation at the regional level has become a strategic issue for many, offering an original approach that is more horizontal than vertical, and grounded in the mobilization of networks. After reporting on the different site visits carried out with each organization, we highlight several transversal lessons drawn from the collected material: companies that practice collaborative innovation are often better able to valorize resources, care rigorously for their territory, identify winning combinations, and learn from others.

• Valorizing resources: Beyond individual skills, companies aiming to develop open innovation benefit from recognizing and drawing on the contributions of employees, partners, and entrepreneurs with whom they wish to innovate.

• Caring rigorously for their territory: In 2025, care is emerging as a strong, non-negotiable dimension of workplace well-being. But it also extends to the territory, through initiatives that benefit a wide range of actors beyond large corporations, creating win-win dynamics.

• Identifying winning combinations: Success often comes from surrounding oneself with and working alongside multiple stakeholders, local authorities, industrial companies in the region, start-ups, entrepreneurial and innovation connectors, real estate developers, the education system, and universities, all of which help build a “shared leadership model.”

• Learning from others: The cooperation of multiple actors within the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region, and the mobilization of knowledge and skills as described in each case study, could contribute to shaping what we see as a “learning territory.”