Patrimoines productifs collectifs versus exploration/exploitation. Le cas de la bioraffinerie

The sequence [exploration/exploitation] assumes the emergence of a dominant design. We test an alternative explanation in terms of collective productive heritages (patrimoines productifs collectifs) using a case study. The biorefinery concept was built in order to think the transition in a term by term substitution model, from petroleum products to renewable resources. The study shows that this model does not produce the dominant design it was intended to build. Using a narrative approach, we show the existence of four collective productive heritages, which differ in their both economic and environmental innovations. Classification JEL : Q16, Q55, L65