Theme

Starting from their roots decades ago, Science and Technology Parks have grown into globally recognized tools for effective offering of various innovation support services to their main clients – knowledge-based companies. This has been accompanied by permanent modification and enrichment of the role of STPs as bridging institutions between universities and other R&D bodies, business entities, governmental offices, and wider public community.

In 2002, IASP formulated a definition of STP that encompasses the main common denominators and features that these projects share throughout the world:  “A Science Park is an organisation managed by specialised professionals, whose main aim is to increase the wealth of its community by promoting the culture of innovation and the competitiveness of its associated businesses and knowledge-based institutions.

To enable these goals to be met, a Science Park

• stimulates and manages the flow of knowledge and technology amongst universities, R&D institutions, companies and markets;
• facilitates the creation and growth of innovation-based companies through incubation and spin-off processes;
• provides other value-added services together with high quality space and facilities.”

In 2012, IASP and Tallinn TEHNOPOL propose to consider various aspects of the recent professional STP developments and to highlight whether and in which direction this definition should be modified to keep path with the evolution of the STP concept. On this basis, the overall theme for the 2012 IASP World Conference has been set as  

“Science and Technology Parks: Serving the Companies and the Innovation Community”

The program for the two and a half day conference will be divided into a number of plenary and parallel sessions or workshops on specific topics. In addition, special plenary meetings – Knowledge Camps - will be held to review and analyse the outcome of the parallel sessions/workshops.