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Science parks as innovative development catalyzers for SMEs

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Integriertes Ideenmanagement

Part of the book series: Wirtschaftswissenschaft ((WiWiss))

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Abstract

The need of innovation and market-useful knowledge and the ineffectiveness of spontaneous mechanisms of knowledge creation and transfer have shifted the attention to the necessity of bridge institutions between the side of knowledge creation and demand. The so-called “bridging institutions” assume a fundamental role as catalysers in the national systems of innovation.

Science parks (henceforth: SP) are probably the most diffused bridging institution. According to the IASP (2002), a SP is an organisation managed by specialized professionals, whose main aim is to increase the wealth of its community by promoting the culture of innovation and the competitiveness of its associated businesses and knowledge-based institutions. SP stimulate and manage the flow of knowledge and technology amongst universities, R&D institutions, companies and markets; they facilitate the creation and growth of innovation-based companies through incubation and spin-off processes; and they provide other value-added services together with high-quality space and facilities.

Those institutions should be able to reproduce what Saxenian (1994) has called “regional advantage”, based on knowledge transmission between firms in close proximity. Firms hosted should be integrated in a structure of functional and spatial clustering, similar to a regional entrepreneurial fountain (Stough, Kulkarni & Riggle, 1998), built in a knowledge pool (Formica, 1999) of human capital, R&D services and expenditure, and high technology and knowledge services (Florida & Kenney, 1998).

The aim of this research is to study the ability of these institution of pursuing their institutional role, through an empirical analysis in the North West of Italy on hosted firms’ performance and characteristics, compared to firms outside the park (Westead, 1997). This article presents the research model, through a literature review on this issue.

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  1. Giada Palamara
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Erich J. Schwarz Rainer Harms

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Palamara, G. (2005). Science parks as innovative development catalyzers for SMEs. In: Schwarz, E.J., Harms, R. (eds) Integriertes Ideenmanagement. Wirtschaftswissenschaft. Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-82153-9_4

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