Increasing social capital and social cohesion on science parks: Beyond the ordinary meeting place

Recent studies confirming social capital benefits through strategic and proactive commitment to building effective relationships within the science park eco-system (Martìnez-Cañas and Ruiz-Paolmino 2010; Hansson and Vestergaard 2005; Heshmati 2007) serve as a clarion call for Scienceand Technology Park managers, staff, and stakeholders to asses traditional park services and organized events to determine their effectiveness and seek out good practices that serve to improve their parks capacity to innovate through better social cohesion. \n\nThis paper offers a review of social capital literature and provides an overview of social capital development activities used in thirteen science parks throughout Scandinavia and the Baltic Region. The study, using social capital dimensions proposed by the World Bank, serves as a preliminary exploration to determine how STPs understand social capital, the degree to which they strategically translate activities and events into social capital, and possible steps needed to begin evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies.