Demand-oriented Science and Technology Parks: a New Tool for Innovation Policy

Economic policies have largely tried to impact the development of innovations from the supply side. However, demand-side policies have received more attention in recent years. Science and Technology (S&T) parks have traditionally been a supply-side innovation policy instrument and have not always been successful in achieving their goals. This study conducts two surveys and constructs two S&T park management models based on the survey results. One survey includes 64 Iranian S&T park experts and managers and the other survey includes 31 S&T park experts from 17 countries. These models conform to the third generation of S&T parks. In terms of innovation policy, they are leaning towards demand-oriented policies and are expected to be more effective than supply-oriented models. The results showed that ownership, funding sources, incentives for tenants and linkages of S&T parks should move from supply-side models to demand-side models.