ABSTRACT
Together with the economic slump and the reversal of trends noticed since the beginning of the seventies, regional economists are faced with new problems. The issue at stake is the understanding of regional dynamism in industrialized countries. Two phenomena are now becoming increasingly important as a result of the obsolescence of old industrial regions. These are technological innovation and firm creation. Nowadays, regions with a capacity for innovation and for enterprise seem to have a greater potential for a better future than those situated in old industrial areas. This provides a valid basis for the reorganization of spatial structures which is taking now place. Industries of tomorrow are not being established in industrial regions of the past.
