Technology Parks and Regional Development in the Southern European Periphery

Abstract

Technology parks have been widely embraced as a mechanism for creating local high-technology complexes in the context of regional development policy. Such policies are constructed on the basis that the creation of an appropriate infrastructure can induce cumulative development of technologically-related activities. In theory it is expected that the growth process will be characterized by a high degree of innovation, the application of locally-generated knowledge, flexible forms of organization and interdependence between enterprises. Previous research has shown that there is considerable variability in the forms of development which occur on technology parks, and a debate has developed concerning the potential for the decentralization of high technology industry to peripheral locations. While many technology parks may not attain the ideal in terms of technological synergies, they can nonetheless produce significant regional development outcomes. This is demonstrated through a case study of the Andalucia Technology Park situated on the outskirts of the City of Milaga in the south of Spain. In this case, the high technology label has plainly acted as a magnet for public sector funding, which has been used to create the kind of modern customized infrastructure demanded by inward investors. The initial 'cost-per-job' has undoubtedly been high, but the availability of financial support from the public sector suggests that expansions of existing projects and further inward investment are likely to occur. This interpretation of technology parks has important implications for our understanding of regional policy in the 1990s. Many technology parks, in reality, are used to produce what can be regarded as less ambitious but significant regional policy outcomes (i.e. job-creation through relocation and inward investment) and are perhaps more appropriately judged in those terms.

Shifting sands: Regional perspectives on the role of social capital in supporting open innovation through knowledge transfer and exchange with small and medium-sized enterprises

“…Most of the interviewed spin-offs were located in the Technological Park of Andalucía. This park was founded in 1992 and has become internationally recognised as a best practice example of how to develop a technology park in regions of relatively low initial economic development, attracting public sector funding (Peck et al, 1996). Andalucía, one of the biggest regions of Spain and of Europe, covers an area of 87,000 km 2 and has a population of 8,424,000 inhabitants (2011).…”

Low‐tech industry, regional innovation system and inter‐actor collaboration in Indonesia: The case of the Pekalongan batik industry

“…Past studies on innovation policy in Europe and Asia have focused on high-tech industries. The establishment of science and technology parks has so far dominated the role of high-tech industrial systems the application of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) in European countries (Quintas et al, 1992;Peck et al, 1996;Asheim and Isaksen, 2002). In East Asian countries such as China and Korea, innovation system development has also relied on the science park as a knowledge transfer tool and the university as a technological innovation centre (Chung, 2002;Miao and Hall, 2014).…”