Title: Critical factors for science park development: the case of the Singapore Science Park

Authors: Yuehua Zhang

Addresses: Department of Marketing and International Management, Waikato Management School, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand

Abstract: A science park has been increasingly established as a mechanism to stimulate knowledge-intensive activities for economic development. The Singapore Science Park, one of the earliest parks founded in economies at the developing stage, is ranked the second most popular in the Asia Pacific region. Through tracing its two-decade history, the present study identifies factors critical to its development. These include: a national environment encouraging R&D endeavour; strong government support; a committed management team; competitive rentals; and familiarity with the market. They suggest that both government with the macro-environment it creates and park management with the micro-strategies it formulates are decisive for the Park development. These provide insights for the management of other parks, particularly those latecomers in developing counties.

Keywords: economic development; entrepreneurship; R&D; research and development; science and technology policy; science parks; technology parks; Singapore; park management; critical success factors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2005.006104

International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, 2005 Vol.4 No.2, pp.194 - 205

Published online: 04 Feb 2005 *

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