Call for papers to the 3rd conference of the History and sciences of the sea

The Scientific Interest Group “History and Sciences of the Sea” organizes its 3rd international conference. Following the Lorient (2007) and Nantes (2013) meetings, this new symposium will take place in Poitiers on November 15, 16 and 17, 2017. The theme chosen is "sea and innovation".

Maritime and coastal activities are carried out under specific conditions of temporality, territoriality and risk. Therefore, they offer excellent observatories of the paths that innovation must follow, in order to overcome obstacles, cross boundaries or overcome crises. Thus, the maritime field leads to studying the conditions of research, emergence, development, adoption and dissemination of innovations.

How can we analyze the mechanisms of maritime innovation ? We propose to mobilize case studies and syntheses from historical research as well as other fields of maritime studies (sciences and techniques, geology, biology, law, planning, economics). The main aims of the session would provide answers to a series of questions:

• Under what conditions does an impasse become a source of innovation ? All blockages, limitations and obstacles have not the same value. So it is necessary to identify and characterize the conditions that go beyond simply improving existing systems.
• In what context does innovation appear ? The question of actors and the quality of the ecosystem that allows the incubation of new ideas is also to be explored.
• How is an innovation adopted ? The transition from research to results and from outcomes to development is therefore an essential issue.
• Why are some innovations limited in their development ? The problem of the relationship between tradition and progress, between growth and sustainability or between rules and transgressions seems to be important for the subject.

This set of questions can be potentially posed to a wide variety of sectors of maritime and coastal activity. We finally chose four sectors :

• The relationship to territoriality, at sea and on the coast, influences the development of human activities in close relation to defense issues (at the international level) but also conflicts, rules and integrated or participatory management.
• The issue of fisheries, from the sea (or foreshore) to the consumer, relies on the relationship between tradition and progress, between sustainability and market.
• The consequences of globalization, as early as the 16th century, put the maritime community face to numerous challenges in the fields of transport, packaging and storage of food and goods, ship handling, their reception and freight.
• Finally, the question of environmental changes on biomass, on the morphology of coastlines and seabed, but also on the navigability of estuaries, coastal or polar seas have called, call and will call innovative responses thanks to the world of the sea.

Proposals expected in the form of 2,000 signs, to be sent before June 26, 2017 to:

chsm2017@histoire-sciences-mer.org

The Scientific Council of SIG will proceed with the selection in June and the list of selected papers will circulate at the end of July.