Building STP’s Ecosystem: Kitakyushu Approach

Abstract

In the last three decades since the 1980s the concept of science and technology park (STP) has emerged from many academic and practical debates on regional development. The concept has come to be used frequently, but often with quite different meanings and images. A key reason for the popularity of this concept is its capacity to cover the whole range of institutions and relationships involving in process of creation of science, innovation of technology, improvement of industry, and evolution of market based on its networking. It has given an impression on policymakers who have been eager to find some useful measures for regional economic development since an era of so-called new economy. Therefore, STPs have been built as a core of supporting system for R&D, business incubation, industrial clustering (networking and governance among entrepreneurs), management of sustainable innovation system, and infrastructure development for regional economic prosperity in many regions of the world. In this chapter, we call it STP’s ecosystem.