New industrial policy between territorial assumptions and spatial practices: the case of Technum Québec

Abstract Industrial and innovation policies enshrine geographic assumptions that are usually implicit, such as a spatial hierarchy of jurisdictions, a spatialized understanding of their likely impact, and a territorial view of stakeholders. For policies to succeed, these implicit assumptions need to align across stakeholders and be compatible with spatial practices. This is particularly the case for New Industrial Policies, which seek to re-shore strategic knowledge-based industries: these policies necessarily involve development in specific regions, and involve local, national, community, private and public stakeholders. In this paper, we study Technum Québec's innovation zone initiative in Bromont. We document and analyse how tensions are emerging as the province's understanding of the geographic processes and impacts of research-led semi-conductor development is misaligned with the spatial practices of corporations, universities and research centres, and does not take full account of the effect this policy, if successful, may have on local communities.