Rick L. Weddle: Considerable change is under way in the research and science park industry. To be sure, some legacy parks continue to enjoy success with their original business model of large, single-user corporate research and development facilities. However, a good many of these older or mature parks are finding it tough to compete with newer, mixed-use and more urban-oriented development models. Moreover, a newer model is rapidly evolving across the world. This new model is less focused on a single piece of real estate and more focused on the overall innovation ecosystem. These new models are being referred to as “areas of innovation.” Such models will typically include one or more research or science parks, a range of business incubation and co-working facilities, a research university, community colleges and technical training facilities and one or more innovation-oriented economic development organizations. These new areas of innovation are less characterized by real estate and geography and more by the range of innovation resources and the people in an area that combine to create a fully integrated organic knowledge and innovation ecosystem.
Image: http://www.siteselection.com - Kilometro Rosso Science Park, Bergamo, Italy
