André Torre

André Torre is a research director at France's National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and an Associate Professor at Université Paris-Sud's Sceaux campus. He also serves as director of the Paris-Saclay Humanities and Social Sciences Center (MSH Paris-Saclay) since 2018. His work bridges industrial economics, spatial economics, and socioeconomics, focusing on territorial development, proximity dynamics, and rural conflicts.

• Key affiliations: INRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Sud, MSH Paris-Saclay

Research interests center on territorial innovation, local economic dynamics, and conflict resolution in rural and regional contexts. He pioneered the concept of proximity economics, analyzing how geographic, organizational, and social proximity influence industrial localization and innovation.

Collaboration is central to his career: he established the 'Proximity Dynamics' research group in 1991 and coordinates 450 researchers across 33 multidisciplinary projects. His 'Conflicts and Territories' seminar has run monthly for 14 years, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue.

Notable contributions include co-authoring the seminal work Industrial and Spatial Economics (1995) and over 100 publications on proximity theory, which earned him recognition as 'Mr. Proximity' in France. His analysis of the 'Gilets Jaunes' movement highlights systemic territorial neglect and centralism's socio-economic impacts.