Science Parks and Local Knowledge Creation: A Conceptual Approach and an Empirical Analysis in Two Italian Realities

Roberta Capello and Andrea Morrison

Chapter Chapter 13 in New Directions in Regional Economic Development, 2009, pp 221-245 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Thanks to their ability to perform knowledge-related tasks such as diffusing knowledge locally, promoting high-tech firms, establishing links between knowledge-creating bodies (e.g. universities, research centers) and knowledge-exploiting bodies (e.g. public and private firms, local institutions), science parks have long been considered efficient instruments of industrial and regional policy (Jones 1996; Martin 1997). They were expected to enhance the diffusion of new and advanced technologies/knowledge among firms, and consequently boost the competitiveness of firms and regions. At present, a significant number of studies show that most science parks have failed to perform their intended function (Appold 2004; Massey et al. 1992; Quintas et al. 1992; Vedovello 1997). Many reasons have been attributed to this failure. An important reason is the erroneous and misleading belief that simple geographical proximity between sources of knowledge and local firms is sufficient to foster the widespread spatial diffusion of information, technologies and new ideas (Macdonald 1987; Vedovello 1997). Another reason is the peculiar governance structure of science parks: in fact they may address as many objectives as there are main stakeholders, which in turn may lead to inconsistent policies (Monk et al. 1988; Löfsten and Lindelöf 2002).

Keywords: Small Firm; Absorptive Capacity; Knowledge Spillover; Local Firm; Local Labor Market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:adspcp:978-3-642-01017-0_13

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783642010170

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-01017-0_13

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Advances in Spatial Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().