Cities and their Science Parks growing local economies. Why Economically Successful City Regions Need a Science Park

As in the past, modern cities can provide certain conditions that make it possible for a "creative cluster" to emerge and contribute to its economic activity and global competitiveness. These conditions include a unique sense of place that attracts the best talent to its businesses and universities, a social and business culture that supports entrepreneurship, risk capital and associated business support and effective formal and informal networks. Defining research intensive clusters (RICs) as a sub-set of creative clusters that rely primarily rely on research and development for their creativity and competitiveness, the paper then comments on the key role played by science and technology parks in the development of RICs, acting as a gateway through which firms enter into the innovation system of the city region.