PRESENCE OF UNIVERSITIES AT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PARKS

Universities are key players of science and technology parks. Their contribution to innovation, research and development, start-up initiatives and high-added value competences is significant. Presence of universities at science and technology parks, either directly or indirectly, is essential. The current research aims to analyse the presence of universities at the beginnings and currently at science and technology parks. As a base professional background, the triple helix model is used to define the assessment model. After the literature review, the paper presents the results of a research on 95 European science and technology parks. After a descriptive overview, the study examines the presence of universities at science and technology parks from two aspects. First, the presence of universities is analysed as a founder of the parks, whether as full owner or partial participant. Secondly, the current presence of the universities is assessed taking into account the type of the park. Based on the analysis, role of universities in founding circumstance and the actual park type is discussed. At conclusion, it is pointed out what kind of roles are taken by the universities both at establishment and operation of science and technology parks. As an empiric example, the ZalaZONE Technology Park in Hungary is shown to illustrate the various opportunities for presence of universities at a park. Key words: technological innovation, ecosystem development, science park, long-term competitiveness