Universities and Science Parks : Engagements and Interactions in Developing and Attracting Talent

Many studies have shown that they have ceased to be mere facilitators of physical spaces to become important providers of services and resources to their tenants. Universities situated in or next to them play a key role in getting engaged in the development and the attraction of talent to Science Parks, to their tenant firms as well as to the region. Considering that skilled professionals are one of the resources that companies seek the most, Science Parks have dedicated numerous activities and means to become even more attractive to talented individuals, who can especially be found in entrepreneurial universities. In this study, we review the literature regarding the interactions existing between Science Parks or their tenants and their local universities. Talent attraction and entrepreneurship issues are addressed as the building blocks of these interactions. We strive to identify types of interactions that could differ in function of the maturity levels of the firms since their aims are not the same: at an early stage, firms tend to focus more on growth, whereas at a later stage, they tend to focus more on their development. We then point out policy implications, concerning both entrepreneurial or engaged universities and Science Parks

What drives the intellectual property output of high-tech firms? Regional- and firm-level factors

This study analyzes the effects of regional- and firm-level factors on the intellectual property (IP) output of high-tech firms. So far, little is known on how regional factors influence the IP output of high-tech firms.We combine data on 8317 German high-tech firms with regional data and perform various regression analyses. We measure the IP output by the number of granted patents and trademarks. In particular, the receipt of venture capital and firm size have a significant effect on the IP output. With regard to regional factors, the student rate in a region is positively linked to IP output, whereas the existence of a technical university in a region has no significant effect on the IP output. Implications for policy makers and practitioners are discussed

In which regions do governmental, independent, and corporate venture capital firms invest? An empirical investigation across 402 German regions

We analyze the distribution of venture capital (VC) investments across German regions and explore the geographical determinants of these investments. So far, little is known about the regional determinants of governmental (GVC), independent (IVC), and corporate (CVC) VC firms and about whether these types of VC firms invest in different regions. Combining a dataset of 402 German districts, our regressions show that regions with a higher supply of human capital and knowledge creators attract a significantly higher number of GVC investments. Moreover, we find a significant difference in economically weaker regions but do not find a metropolitan bias. Hence, GVC firms do not invest more frequently in rural regions per se and do not prevent regional disparities more often than other types of VC firms. The implications of these findings for high-tech firms and regional policy are discussed