Science Parks designed as entitites of the new paradigm: the Knowledge (global-based) Society

The paper advocates that Science and Technology Park - STP, in order to be successful in the Knowledge (global-based) Society, the new social paradigm that emerges worldwide, must be designed and implemented as an entity of this new paradigm. Next, the paper describes the Methodology of Regional Innovative Development, stemming from a Latin American School of Thought and aiming at to give support to STP implementation within the new social paradigm. The methodology states that a STP design must begin with the construction of an adequate conceptual framework, able to grasp the circumstance in which the park is inserted, and the generation of a suitable set of directives, able to guide the implementation of the park. Examples of the construction of conceptual frameworks and sets of directives are presented. These examples, along with a comparison between well-known science parks, subsidize the elaboration of comments about the future of science parks.