Creating areas of innovation in the 21st century: Evolution of STPs into areas of innovation. Case: Skolkovo Innovation Center, Russia

Half-way into the second decade of the 21st century, there is a fresh wave of areas of innovation emerging internationally in Russia, Latin America, Asia, Africa. These areas expand on the concept of science park environment and aim at creating sustainable, effective working and living conditions, forming appealing ecosystems for students, scientists, entrepreneurs, larger corporations, investors and startups, urban areas. The paper is structured around the key aspects of an ecosystem establishment, keeping in mind the process of evolution of science and technology parks (STPs) into new spatial configurations and their scaling up. A topical real-life case of an area of innovation is analyzed: Skolkovo Innovation City, Russia. The results of the analysis demonstrate the STPs role in enabling the concept export into innovation cities, and highlight the need for STPs as a testing ground and starting point in the evolution curve of new spatial configurations.