THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY PARKS IN THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS: THE CASE OF TECHNOLOGY PARK VARAŽDIN

Abstract

Purpose. The entrepreneurial process is a complicated structure defined by interaction of many factors. When analyzing entrepreneurship in the context of modern - day development of new technologies, technology parks are also being introduced in this process. Technology parks are specific forms which started their growth in the middle of twentieth century. They are viewed as places where technology, entrepreneurship, knowledge, innovation and creativity are being combined together in order to nurture the process of creating visions, ideas and new values. Technology parks are the nexus between academic community and ventures. The aim of this paper was to present the interaction between entrepreneurship and technology parks, and to identify the role of technology parks in today's entrepreneurial venture. Design. Over time industrial economy has developed into information economy, which also has many forms. That lead to acknowledgement of the strength of connection between industry and know - how. Therefore this paper foremost defines the concepts of entrepreneurship and technology parks through their historic evolution and modalities of their interaction, that being the base for a case study. A case study was conducted in Technology park Varaždin in the period from March 7th to March 13th 2016, using following methods. Firstly secondary data analysis was conducted (data acquired from available literature and business reports) which gave basis for a decision regarding primary data collecting and hypotheses proposal. Afterwards primary data analysis was conducted (data acquired using online survey method). Survey was conducted on population consisting of entrepreneurs whose companies are tenants of Technology park Varaždin. The mentioned research survey consisted of twenty questions divided into four sections. Findings. Total of three hypotheses were proposed and tested in order to make tenants profiles and analysis of their habitat in Technology park Varaždin, and finally in order to identify the role of Technology park Varaždin in their entrepreneurial process.l