The Economic Impact of Science Parks and Innovation Policy: A Case Study of the High-Technology Industries in Taiwan

National policies for science parks and innovation have been identified as one of the major driving forces for high technology industries, especially for public funded science parks. By taking the globally recognized high technology industrial clusters and the case study of science parks in Taiwan, this paper evaluates the economic impact of science parks and innovation policy with a holistic viewpoint and nation-wide statistics. First, the economic added values, international trades, and employment in the benchmarked science parks are evaluated. Second, the concepts of academia-industry collaboration and policies to eco-innovation system are introduced, while the measures and performance of innovation and applied R&D in the science parks are addressed. Based on the research results, lessons learned and policy implications for science park developments and academia- industry cooperation innovations are discussed.