Optimism and Stability
“If you’ve seen one science park then you’ve seen one science park”
International Association of Science Parks Annual Conference 2008 Johannesburg September 14th – 17th
With stock markets in turmoil and heavyweight financial institutions filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy or being forcibly bailed out of difficulties of their own making, in contrast the International Association of Science Parks 2008 Conference in Johannesburg this week was an oasis of optimism and vibrancy.
Buoyed by investment from their respective governments, speaker after speaker spoke of the varied roles that science parks undertake in stimulating innovation and the accrued benefits thereafter. The imperative to find “more for less for more” was espoused by Dr Ramesh Mashelkar of the Global Research Alliance, with several case studies demonstrating the eternal aphorism “necessity is the mother of invention” and the concept of using the world’s resources more skillfully to widen the positive impact on the world’s poor.
In contrast, Harald Kjelstad of SIVA - The Industrial Development Corporation of Norway, spoke of their investment strategy that stimulated science and technology innovation, but also provided an infrastructure for R & D within more mature industrial technologies. The success of their strategy has led to pan-national collaborations with countries as far a field as Croatia and Namibia.
The incredible diversity of funding, innovation and the outcomes from science parks was best summed up by one of the catchphrases of the conference “If you’ve seen one science park then you’ve seen one science park”.
Cynics might suggest that governments frequently invest in science and technology in order to fulfill political agenda “tick boxes”. A researcher from the Walter Sizulu University in South Africa spoke of regional government “investment” in an IT hut in a compound within the rural part of Eastern Cape. No-one used the internet connections, as no-one had been told how to operate the computers. Poignant as this was in the context of South Africa’s difficulties in joining the developed world, it was almost a metaphor for many government’s “build it and they will come” policies.
In the UK, the newly reformed Technology Strategy Board is working in key sectors to make assistance available to small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. They had recently discovered that the majority of government assistance for research projects was being taken by multinationals.
Fundamentally though, investment in science parks across the global is demonstrably valuable to the economies of both developed and developing worlds at regional and national levels. With equities and commodities all suffering in the current uncertainty, future equilibrium is dependent on the innovation developed through universities and their science parks, technoparks and incubators. The technology venture capital, the smart money is all looking to the future.
The IASP Johannesburg Conference was indeed a success and there was no mention of the global economic downturn. Perhaps governments of the world should take a fresh look at the vibrancy of this sector and consider it as the one safe haven to invest over the next few years. Full details of the papers can be viewed over the coming days at www.iasp.ws