Can the role of science and technology parks as engines of economic prosperity be overstated?
Perhaps, but it’s hard to do so in the current economy. For every large new project — like Samsung’s recently announced, US$3.6-billion chip plant expansion in Austin, Texas, adding 500 jobs — hundreds of new startups take wing every year that when mature will employ many times that. For years, areas and savvy universities have understood the importance of providing the nests from which the fledglings would emerge. But today, an area’s failure to provide the latest in research and commercialization tools puts that area at a distinct disadvantage. It might as well tell Samsung to expand a facility in some other location.
To read the full, original article click on this link: COVER STORY - TECHNOLOGY CENTERS -- Site Selection magazine, July 2010
Author: MARK AREND