Finally, old or new companies remain production units whose decision-making centres are located elsewhere in France or in the world, and the attractiveness factors are mainly linked to significant public aid, the presence of the port, and an abundant workforce, via a high unemployment rate (even if skills remain to be built). However, the solidity of territorial development is based on anchoring through innovation activity, particularly technological.
In the case of Dunkirk, the research & development activity of companies is not primarily located in the territory. In terms of training, relations with the university and local organisations and institutions are oriented towards the current needs of companies in terms of industrial skills, but knowledge could nevertheless be further developed for the technologies of the future. Under these conditions, the territory remains dependent on the decisions - sometimes erratic - of companies, which spain phone number list respond to a logic of competitiveness measured on an international scale, and to the evolution of financial market prices. The very recent announcements of delays in ArcelorMittal's decarbonisation plan and the withdrawal of one of the investors in the project to set up the battery recycling company Eramet underline this state of affairs.
The case of Dunkirk is revealing of the possibility of reconverting highly specialized territories, in this case in heavy industry. It also makes it possible to identify good practices in the face of the difficulties encountered in the changes made. Among these, governance involving public and private actors in order to develop a common appropriation of the territory is an essential prerequisite. But the capacity for long-term transformation also lies in the association of the attractiveness of foreign investments supported by public aid with the promotion of innovative entrepreneurship. In order not to depend on resources external to the territory, it must be nourished by knowledge overflowing from research centers and universities established locally.