Science and the city: comparative perspectives on the urbanity of science and technology parks (original) (raw)
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Science Parks and Economic Development
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 1989
Science parks originated in the USA in the 1950s where they were established in order to increase the possibilities and profitability of commercializing university research, and to meet the needs of entrepreneurially minded academics. They spread in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s and have now become a worldwide phenomenon. The original technology transfer motivation exists to a greater or lesser extent depending on the context. No two countries have the same pattern of development of science parks. This chapter defines science parks and traces the history of their development and compares their operation in different countries. The cases of Sweden and the UK are used to compare the roles played by science parks in economic development in different countries.
R & D Management, 1991
This paper examines the role of university science parks in fostering interorganizational technology transfers and technological development. We first try to contrast the development of science parks with the theoretical and empirical findings from scholarly work in the area of the management of technology. This theoretical context allows us to interpret and to discuss empirical data collected from Belgian and Dutch science park firms. The data collection mainly focused on the interactions of park-based firms with their external R&D environment. This analysis leads to two important findings: (1) the level of R&D activity at the tenants is rather moderate for most of the parks studied, and (2) the tension between ‘regionalism’ and ‘internationalism’ in contemporary R&D management.In the wake of this second finding, arguments are presented to complement and even to change the focus from the ‘miniature’ R&D network which might develop on university science parks toward the ‘R&D community’ network holding together researchers working on a particular, interrelated set of scientific and technological problems wherever they may be located around the globe. Moreover, it is argued that a unified theory on the emergence and the development of new technologies is badly needed. Only if the dynamics underlying the development of a new technology are unravelled and better understood can technology policies, such as the ones involving the creation of science parks, be targeted more effectively.
Science parks: economic engines or a real estate concept
2009
Given the increased importance of knowledge as a production factor in many companies it is not surprising that there is a growing interest in the development of science and technology parks. These parks often have a high quality. The question comes up whether a science park is a real estate concept or an 'engine' that stimulates the exchange of information and innovation. Research results (mainly in the United Kingdom) suggest that for entrepreneurs the importance of proximity to other firms and universities is limited when it comes to strategic knowledge. Being established on a science or technology park can nevertheless be interesting for firms: a stimulating informal circuit can occur and, moreover, the proximity of a university offers possibilities to attract young talent. With regard to attracting people in a labour market that will become more and more stressed in the coming decade, the high quality of the buildings and environment of a science park can be of importance. In that light a science park could be a real estate concept rather than an engine for innovation. If such a high quality development will have success attention has to be paid to, among others, location, market and target group identification, management and customer orientation. In this paper I will elaborate these ideas and I will present the results of research on two science parks in the Netherlands. Are these parks of importance for the regional economy (linkages, innovation) or are science parks mainly a real estate concept?
Innovation ecosystems centred in EU-based science parks: recent past and new trends
The concept of Science Park dates back to mid-50s and the strategic considerations undertaken at North Carolina, with critical contributions from academia and inestimable state governor support. This newly approach to link University with private business did have its burdens and drawbacks, until financial partners were engaged and there was a clearer view about the institutional setup. Research Triangle Park followed shortly after, whenever these issues were sorted-out. Europe followed too such trend, albeit a few years later. Sophia-Antipolis was one of the primary names to emerge (early 70s), whereas year 1984 witnessed the incorporation of International Association of Science Parks. This can be seen as a direct result of the significant role science parks were playing in terms of heightening socioeconomic development. European policies started also to reflect these changing paradigms, having proceed to the implementation of political/funding instruments targeted to such endeavours. Scientific concern beyond this work in progress addresses key characteristics of a Science Park, deemed essential for a sound operation and the fulfilment of its mission statement. Triple helix model is embedded still within Science Parks, but has evolved into more complex structures. Technology hub, entrepreneurship ecosystems and innovation ecosystems are but a few of recent denominations. The later have been used to better describe the fuzzy reality of Science Parks and their performance metrics in terms of A) ability to retain talents; B) network significance; C) accelerator capacity and D) science-to-the-market delivery. This work consists of a reflection about innovation models followed by Science Parks, quoting some EU-based examples. There's a discussion about recent trends, heavily influenced by external factors such as the scarcity of resources; sustainability; the individual; green economy. Way ahead encompasses smart specialisation and strategic thinking, being the paper a contribution for the analysis of regional dynamics which are Science-Park centred. Science Park concept: a historical insight The Science Park concept is not new: actually it has emerged back in the mid-50s, whenever some strategic considerations were undertaken at North Carolina. These have been supported both by academia and the state governor (Luther Hodges in such a case) whose enrolment was decisive at the time. Such a disruptive approach aiming at to strengthen the linkage between University and private businesses did have however plentiful burdens and drawbacks. That was the situation until the financial partners were enrolled and there was a clearer view as regard to the institutional setup. The Research Triangle Park (later referred to as RTP) followed shortly afterwards, as soon as all these issues have been tackled in a timely manner. The triangle vertexes comprised three university poles, It must be said that the decentralised model of RTP as far as the academia is concerned was followed closely by a concurrent endeavour dating back also to the 50s, more precisely to California and the eponymous Stanford University. It consisted of the first brick of what was known by then as Stanford Industrial Park (later renamed Stanford Research Park) and nowadays Silicon Valley. Whenever speaking about " The Valley " the one refers to the location of numerous fast growing high-tech companies. These contemporary examples have several common characteristics, that is: 1) the geographical dispersion, not restricted to a small conurbation but rather a large area. Current RTP campus spans over an area of approximately 2.800 ha (Cirillo, 2013), whilst Silicon
International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2010
Science and Technology Parks (STPs) have been widely studied in recent years. The majority of the contributions were mainly focused on the economic performances of the firms located in the parks, whilst limited attention has been devoted to the scientific and technological performances of the research centres, laboratories and firms located in these structures and to their impact on scientific and technological local development. In this paper, we propose and apply to the first and most important Italian STP (AREA Science Park -Trieste) a methodology to evaluate this aspect on the basis of established data and indicators of publications, patents and projects. We suggest that this approach can be useful to provide preliminary indications on the park strengths and weaknesses on these important aspects to Park managers and Policy Makers.
Towards a segmentation of science parks: A typology study on science parks in Europe
Research Policy, 2018
Although science parks are established globally for decades as an innovation policy instrument to foster growth and networking, there is limited attention given towards research into possible types within these real estate objects. Prior attempts in categorising science parks are characterised by the limited number of cases and/or variables. Science parks are believed to enhance innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic value for firms and regions. Past academic research showed mixed results on these performances and it is reasoned that distinct types within science parks exist that might explain these unclear results. We argue that before we can grasp what science parks can do, we should know what they are. Therefore, a survey on science park characteristics was completed by 82 science park managers in Europe. A cluster analysis was conducted which grouped the 82 participating science parks in three types; 'research', 'cooperative', and 'incubator' locations. Next, differences and similarities of these three types within science parks in Europe were analysed as a basis for advancing the academic debate. The types provide further understanding of science parks and offer researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers a means to compare, market, and benchmark science parks more adequately.
Do science parks promote research and technology? A scientometric analysis of the UK
Scientometrics, 2014
This study investigates whether scientific publications can give plausible suggestions about whether R&D support infrastructures in the UK successfully foster scientific activity and cooperation. For this, research publications associated with UK SPs were identified from Scopus for the years 1975-2010 and analysed by region, infrastructure type and organisation type. There was apparently a systematic intensification of R&D from the 90s as evidenced by the publications of on-park firms and research institutions. Science Parks and Research Parks were the most successful infrastructures in fostering cooperation and research production, in comparison to Science and Innovation centres, Technology parks, Incubators and other parks, and HEIs were the major off-park partners for the on-park businesses. The East of England, the South East, and Scotland concentrate the highest proportion of parks, each of these three major geographical agglomerations exhibit distinct areas of scientific specialisation. Parks seem to have a positive impact on the overall level of collaboration and production of science and technology, which are highly concentrated in competitive regions. Nevertheless, industry-academia collaborations show that on-park firms tend to collaborate with partners beyond their local region rather than the local HEI. Support infrastructures may therefore not help to reduce the uneven development and geographic distribution of research-intensive industries in the UK.