French regions and economic sector policies: a new planning model? Strategies and tools for developing hydrogen activity by the Hauts-de-France, Occitanie and Pays de la Loire regions
Thibaud BAGES (Sorbonne Université / Géographie-cités) will defend his doctoral dissertation entitled “French regions and economic sector policies: a new planning model? Strategies and tools for developing hydrogen activity by the Hauts-de-France, Occitanie and Pays de la Loire regions”, supervised by Xavier Desjardins et Isabelle Géneau de Lamarlière.
November 21, 2025
at 2 p.m.
Room D323
Maison de la recherche
28 rue Serpente
75006 Paris
Jury
- François Bost, Professeur des universités, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (rapporteur)
- Xavier Desjardins, Professeur des universités, Sorbonne Université (directeur)
- Isabelle Géneau de Lamarlière, Maîtresse de conférences, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (co-encadrante)
- Nadine Levratto, Directrice de recherche, CNRS (examinatrice)
- Fabien Nadou, Professeur d’Economie territoriale et Aménagement, EM Normandie Business School (examinateur)
- Magali Talandier, Professeure des universités, Université Grenoble Alpes (rapportrice)
Abstract
Since their creation in 1982, French regions have seen their role regarding economic policies increased. Over the past forty years, they have benefited from higher budgets and new tools: strategic plans, contractualization with the European Union, public shareholding, exclusive responsibility for granting enterprise aid, etc. In addition, this period has been marked by the withdrawal of the State from industrial policy and the gradual affirmation of the objectives of reindustrialization and environmental transition.
This thesis examines how French regions use economic sector policies to contribute to these objectives and, more broadly, it questions the existence of a regional planning model. It draws on the case of the hydrogen industry and analyses how the Hauts-de-France, Occitanie and Pays de la Loire regions are developing a roadmap and then taking action to contribute to its implementation. Building on qualitative methods, including a corpus of more than ninety interviews with public stakeholders and companies involved in the hydrogen industry, this research studies the contribution of regions to the development of an emerging economic activity.
The plans and tools developed show that the economic sector policy at regional level is incomplete, that its contribution to reducing sub-regional imbalance is weak, and that it faces strong competition from other government levels. However, contrary to studies emphasizing the weaknesses of regional policy, this thesis tends to show that there is a model of regional planning that differs from the State planning of the 1950s and is characterized by the promotion of regional champions, an intermediation role, and a strong capacity for differentiation.
hydrogen Station HyPort, Toulouse (source : hyport.fr)
