From Science Park To Innovation District: Leveraging Ecosystem Strategies For Emerging Market Growth

This paper explores the transformation of science parks into innovation districts, focusing on leveraging ecosystem strategies for emerging market growth. It begins by emphasizing the potential of science parks as hubs of innovation and highlights the crucial role of ecosystem development in unlocking this potential. It delves into the strategic approach needed for science parks to transition into innovation districts and proposes a 5-layer innovation ecosystem methodology. These layers encompass market education, social capital creation, access to knowledge, open innovation facilitation, and internationalization, providing a comprehensive framework for ecosystem development. To illustrate the practical application of this methodology, the paper presents a case study of DeserTech, a regional initiative aimed at positioning Beer Sheva as a global hub for desert technologies. DeserTech, throughout its successful collaborations with the GGW Initiative, local brands, and international embassies, managed to create cascading effects with limited budgets using the 5-layer methodology.