Article : From institution feudalism to territory piloting - Boundary object & innovation

Benoît NAUTRE* et Katerina KONONOVICH**

* Enseignant chercheur, Institut Catholique de Rennes
** Doctorante, Institut Catholique de Rennes

Abstract

This paper focuses on the way a university research project developed by a group of medical establishments within the Southern Brittany healthcare territory will gradually emerge as a boundary object and will further a collective approach to innovation. Based on the intervention research, this study subscribes to the works already developed in this theoretical field, particularly in standardisation ability and flexibility of a boundary object which enables the cooperation between social worlds which have different expectations, speak different languages and have different activity terms. At the same time, it intends to go further to highlight “the invisible infrastructure of this object” still not explored enough in point of its ability to convey a range of conventions, standards, schemes supported by a social group, sphere of action or a community of practice. The observation reveals a progressive mechanism of structuring of the object around the zones defined by authors as “areas of tension”, created through interaction and supported by words, concepts, ideals more or less shared by the social worlds involved.  These tensions while at the same time corroborating the object as a means to translate an innovation define the boundary object and the boundaries of the object.