Evaluating Innovation Capabilities for Science Parks: A System Model

Science parks have played an important role in promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, growth of knowledge-based companies and in turn economic growth within their regions. In this paper, an evaluation system for measuring innovation capability for science parks has been developed, including Innovation Organization Sub-System (IOSS, mainly for high-tech firms), Innovation Support Sub-System (ISSS, e.g., technology intermediaries) and Innovation Environmental Sub-Systems (IESS). Based on the empirical study on Qingdao Science Park (1994-2008), this paper has demonstrated the use of the system for evaluation and measurement of innovation capabilities for a science park. The findings reveal that the evolution law explained by the evaluation system fitted with three components is consistent with the actual evolution process of the Qingdao Science Park. It confirms that this evaluation system bears a good explanatory power for the development of Science Park. In addition, recommendations to improve the capabilities of continuous innovation for science parks are also given.