Science Parks: A Critical Assessment

Abstract

During the 1980s, many policymakersfacing decreasing revenues and increasing unemployment looked to technology-led development to pump new life into their sagging regional and national economies. One of the ways they attempted to promote this high-tech strategy was through the creation of science parks. But although these parks have demonstrated some potential for enhancing economic growth, they are hardly the economic quick fixes some policymakers believe them to be: successful parks often have taken a decade or more to become economically viable, theirfailure rate is high, and their regional and national economic impacts have been exaggerated. State or governmental support is essential to the success of a science park. This assistance may take many forms-from direct state subsidy, to provision of infrastructure, to simply directing government-related research and development contracts to science park tenants. Locating a park near certain urban features-good transportation linkages, a high-quality residential environment, a university, and a pleasant working environment-is also essential. Science parks are not, in themselves, the answer to promoting regional or national high-technology-led economic development, but they can be one of a number of options available to planners and policymakers as part of a well-thought-out and coordinated development strategy built on regional or national strengths, rather than artificial supports for costly and uncertain high-technology strategies.

Uneven land reform and urban sprawl in China: the case of Beijing

“…The zone concept from SEZs is often cited as the reason for development zones, but it is not very helpful for understanding their persistence. For instance, although development zones are often intended or at least labeled for local economic development, especially in high technology, its real effect is doubtful given many studies that show limited or no effects of enterprise zones or science parks in the West (Erickson and Friedman, 1989;McDonald, 1993;Amirahmadi and Staff, 1993). Even foreign direct investment, which is often the official target of most development zones, may not be as important as often believed in economic development (Braunstein and Epstein, 2002).…”

Reframing the Role of Knowledge Parks and Science Cities in Knowledge-Based Urban Development

“…Both industry and researchers see active management as a defining condition to SPs and incubation activities (Amirahmadi and Saff, 1993). Further, knowledge districts have also reportedly introduced local coordination of activities to facilitate interaction between all institutions (Hu et al, 2005;cited in Yigitcanlar, 2010).…”

“…To understand these active community-building elements, we use a close reading of the science parks (SPs) literature (cf Amirahmadi and Saff, 1993;Massey et al, 1992). These spaces have identifiable management teams and activities, typically focusing on both knowledge agglomeration and resource sharing (Phan et al, 2005), concentrating university or research centres, knowledge-based companies, young and established firms, and ancillary service companies.…”

Examine the Commercialization Research Outcomes in Iran A Structural Equation Model

“…Marketing (Luger and Goldstein, 1991;Amirahmadi, & Saff , 1993;MSRD, 2002;Baronchelli et al, 2004;Chan & Lau, 2005;Bamdad, Farjadi, & Riahi, 2007;Farjadi & Riahi, 2007) Interaction Bamdad, Farjadi, & Riahi, 1999Baronchelli, 2004;Fecteau, 2004;Najaf Oshani, 2004;UNIDO, 2005;Griddings, 2005;Fukugawa, 2006;Angelou Economics, 2006;RTI International, 2002, Su, Ni, & Leung, 2007 Research Culture (Moshiri, 1999;Beggs, 2006) Tech Market Salari, 2003;Alaei Tabatabaee, 2008, RTI International, 2002 ) Financing (Moshiri, 1999;Sedigh, 2002, RTI International, 2002) Applied Journals (Beggs, 2006) Creating competitive advantage (Dosi, 1984;Moshiri, 1999;Lever and Turok, 1999;Dodgson, 2000;Metaxas & Kallioras, 2004) 5. Environment informative System (Larson, andMurray, 2008, Aiman, Aminullah, Simamora,2007) Venture Capital (Miramini, 2008, Vass, 2008, RTI International, 2002Market Pull Roth well & Zegveld, 1985, Chen, Huang, Chen, 2004, Leung, Su, Ni 2007Customer Flexibility (Valdani & Ankarani, 2006Rosa & Rase, 2007) Economy Condition …”