ABSTRACT
At the core of the science-park phenomenon lies a view about how technologies are created. The view is that scientific activities are performed in academic laboratories isolated from other activities. The resulting discoveries and knowledge are potential inputs to technology. Science provides break-throughs from which new technological goods may spring. Thus the science-park model is based on the assumption that technological innovation stems from scientific research. The model is seen as extremely relevant by those who believe that the UK is good at science but bad at applying it towards commercial ends. The argument goes that universities have many brilliant people making new discoveries but that they lack the means or the will to reach out to the market. Science parks constitute a channel by which academic science may be linked to commerce. Thus science parks are there to promote, not ‘science’, but its application in technology. Science is seen as the basis for a specific kind of technological development.
