STPs & AOIs as drivers of future for peripheral economies: A sustainable, phased planning approach based on endogenous capacities and resources

Science and Technology Parks (STPs) and Areas of Innovation (AoI) have long been proposed as initiators of progress, as they play a key role in the economic development of their environment. At the beginning, STPs were developed in highly industrialised countries as a product of cooperation of world leading universities and research institutions. However, in recent years, STPs and AoI were proposed and utilised as boosters of regional and national economic development by peripheral economies, which do not present all the favorable conditions and characteristics of industrialised and technology forerunner countries such as the U.S.A., the U.K. and France.

This paper examines a novel, sustainable, phased planning approach for STPs and AoI which does not prioritise Infrastructure, but the nurturing of local and regional demand for STP/ AoI Infrastructure. Based on their endogenous capacities and resources, such as physical research/ academia and business clusters, the selected cases of peripheral economies such as Greece, Andorra, and in the Caribbean region, have taken the strategic decision to differentiate their traditional, low added- value economies and invest in Innovation.