Measuring the performance of Science and Technology Parks: a proposal of a multidimensional model

Abstract

This paper aims to propose a multidimensional model for monitoring and evaluating (ME) the performance of similar groups of Science and Technology Parks (STPs), instead of having a generic ME system. The development of this model considered STPs’ business models and value propositions, their objectives and goals, development stage, stakeholder’s commitment, and respective legal and governance structures. Firstly, we put into perspective the complexity and multidimensionality of measuring and evaluating performance of STPs. In sequence, we review the literature associated with STPs’ performance assessment, covering the period of 1996-2016 and focusing on the dimensions/variables and methods that have been considered in previous works. Then, as a core part of this paper, we present the measurement framework itself describing the building blocks it is composed. Aiming to demonstrate the applicability of this model in the context of different science and technology parks in Brazil, an empirical study, focusing on the planning phase of the model, was carried out during 2016 with 26 participants of the 1st Course for Managers of Parks and Environments of Innovation, offered by the Brazilian Association of Science Parks and Business Incubators (Anprotec). The main contributions of the research are a flexible model for measuring and evaluating the performance of technological parks and sets of indicators and metrics associated with different types of parks.