Cluster boosting through Science and Technology Parks: The case of Tenerife

In this paper, which main objective is presenting a case study of implementation of cluster policy supported by a STP as an innovation support structure, we stand out how Tenerife Science and Technology Park has contributed over the last years to cluster formation in diverse productive sectors of the local business network, mainly by boosting relations between the main actors of its innovation system, and facilitating repeated contact and mutual understanding of traditionally opposed institutions as University and Industry on one hand, and Industry and Government on the other. Empirical research shows that different goals, objectives, working rhythms and cultures seem to be mainly responsible for these opposed positions, and that they determine mentioned relations by interfering in their intensity, direction, content and frequency, all factors that the Triple Helix approach identifies as innovation explanatory.