The role of Science and Technology Parks (STPs) in peripheral countries to face the new challenges in the techno-economic paradigm of industry 4.0: an analysis of a case study in the biotechnology, chemistry and pharma sectors in Uruguay, South America.

Industry 4.0 or Fourth Industrial Revolution is generating a change of techno-economic paradigm with new ways of organizing the means of production ("smart factories", “smart cities”, and global connectivity) and a more efficient allocation of resources but with forecasts of having strong impacts on employment and new business models. These changes bring new opportunities and risks, especially to peripheral economies. The STPs will have to innovate in organizational and management models to act as local connectors in the new global systems. Based on an analysis of prospective scenarios developed by the European Commission, a review of the scientific literature and the results of a survey carried out by the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) among its members, the aim of this paper is to analyze the role of the STP in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The analysis is based on a case study of a small STP from a peripheral country, which has an economy based on the exploitation of natural resources. This STP was taken as an example because of its specialization in biotechnological issues and to be close to the primary productive sector, which is the basis of most of the Latin-American economies.