Openingthetoolboxoftheinstitutionalentrepreneurinhismobilisationeffort:

towardsaredefinitionoftheaudiences.

AurelieDelemarle3rd yearPh.D.candidateENPC/LATTS,France

ThepaperproposestoanalysetheemergenceofMiNaTec,innovationcentreinmicroandnanotechnologies
inGrenobleofficiallyfundedin2002.
MiNaTec is seen as resulting from the dynamics of its underlying S&T, which necessitates the
transformationofthespaceinwhichcollaborationsbetweenactors,involvedinthe field,develop.Onlythree
sites in Europe have developed strategies to face the challenges set by nanosciences/technologies. The
creationofMiNaTecisthespecificresponseimaginedinGrenoblethisisatleastmyreconstitutionofthe
actorsview.Itregroupsonasinglesitethethreetypesofactorswhojudgedcentralinthedevelopmentof
innovations inthemovetowards nanotechnologies:(1)researchersandengineersfromdiversedisciplinary
backgrounds(2)industrialpartnerswhoneedtheaccesstolargeplatformsandmultidisciplinaryknowledge
and(3)engineeringschoolsabletoprovideskilledworkforceandupdateintrainingforallthepartners.
Theinvestmentsrequiredaresolarge(technologicallyandcompetencerelated)thatthesemultiactorspaces
elaborateparticularstrategiestogetsupportsandfunding.Inourcase,thequestionistounderstandhowthe
142millioneuroproject(onlyforthenewbuildings,excludingthe250millionfromtheinitialpartnersand
technologicalinstrumentstobebroughtbyindustrialplayers)managedtobefunded.

Thepaperwillprovideinterestingfeatureslinkedtothemobilisationprocess.Archivescoveringthestrategic
thinking from which MiNaTec emerged are available only in a single place, froma single author.This is
paradoxicalenoughtobenotedconsideringthelargenumberofpartnersinvolvedinthetransformation.Itis
therefore the fieldwork that highly direct towards the theoretical approach to take: here the institutional
entrepreneurone.Therewasfromtheverystartoftheprojecttothesignatureofthefundingframework(2
years) 102 presentations regrouping in total almost 1000 persons from more than 10 institutional and
geographical different backgrounds. Another surprising element concerning the archives deals with their
format: archives consist only in PowerPoint presentations. These are no academics but full project
presentations dealing with allaspects oftheproject (S&Tdynamics,financial elementsand organisational
reorganisation issues). They are no simple presentations but require a reaction from the audience:
dependingonthetimeperiodandtheaudience,theaimoftheauthoristomakethemagree,tomakethem
talkabout theproject inotherinstitutionalorgeographicalspaces ortopresent result ofpastpresentations
etc.Thereisarelationshipbetweentheaudiencesandthethemesofeachpresentation:thisistheresultofthe
analysis using textual analysis and categorisation of the audiences. The discourse is coconstructed in an
extrememanner.

The analysis illustrates the way the mobilisation process is carried out: if based on existing literature
(AldrichandFiol,94),itisacceptedthattheinstitutionalentrepreneurcrossesvarioussociopoliticalspaces
to get support, the casestudy shows that the model proposed is too restrictive: the description of the
environment surrounding the emergence of a new industry/structure is more complex that the ex ante
categorisation of the two authors. I propose to redefine the audiences to be convinced showing that the
bordersbetweeninternalandexternalaudiencesaremoreblurredthatitfirstseems.Moreover,theprocessis
not sequential from inside the organisation to its farther environment: it is punctuated by several
crystallisationmomentsthataclosestudyofthePowerPointslidespermitstoisolate.