The role of science parks in Smart Specialisation Strategies

Science and technology parks (STPs) are very common instruments used by regional and national authorities for regional development. Their main objective is to foster science-based growth poles to stimulate economic diversification away from declining industries. Today, STPs are present in many European regions. They concentrate a wide range of innovative companies and research organisations, and as a consequence the overall knowledge intensity of these places is very high. STPs are thus likely to include seeds for the domains of knowledge-intensive specialisation, on which regions can rely to increase their competitiveness. This is why STPs seem well placed to play a key role in innovation strategies for smart specialisation (S3). We argue that the diversity of STP models by definition means that their contribution to smart specialisation is very likely to depend on the specific context. Three key roles for STPs in the design and implementation of smart specialisation strategies are proposed: (1) STPs may provide an adequate innovation ecosystem for the development of pilot innovation initiatives, well in line with the entrepreneurial discovery process that should drive the regional economies towards new, distinctive and competitive areas of activities. (2) STPs can play an important role as one of the relevant stakeholders forming the quadruple helix of innovation actors shaping smart specialisation strategies. (3) STPs can add the needed external and outward-looking dimension to smart specialisation strategies, a dimension that is today still very much under-developed. Yet, these contributions from STPs cannot be taken for granted. We identify limitations and success conditions for each of the three roles. Illustrative examples of STPs in Finland, England and the Netherlands show how STPs can actively and creatively contribute to the design of innovation strategies and to the external connectivity of their home regions.