University-Related Research Parks: a Michigan Case Study with Selected Comparisons.

Abstract

This study examines university relationships as they affect the attraction of high technology industry and research and development activities to research parks and similar areas contiguous to research universities in the United States. The study includes a descriptive case study of the Greater Ann Arbor (MI) Research Park, and comparisons with three other research parks, (1) the Waltham Centers on Boston's Route 128, (2) Stanford Industrial Park, and (3) Research Triangle of North Carolina. A framework for analysis is developed through a review of literature on the importance of research and development for industry, universities, and communities. The historical and continuing relationships between these three focal groups is reviewed. A checklist of recommendations from the industrial development literature is developed. The three research parks selected for comparison are analyzed based on the checklist from the industrial development literature and based on the framework for analysis. The information on the three selected research parks is from the literature. Primary sources for the heretofore relatively unresearched case study of the Ann Arbor park were used, including interviews and document review. Files of the development were accessed and interviews with key actors in the case study were recorded, transcribed, and coded according to research questions posed for the case study research park. The Ann Arbor case study research park information then is summarized and analyzed according to the industrial development literature checklist and according to the framework for analysis. Comparisons to the three selected research parks are made. Conclusions are presented, including, most importantly, that while the recommendations of the industrial development literature are useful, the framework for analysis developed for this study can be helpful in further ways in research park development and can provide some predictive power not available in an analysis based on the development literature alone. An analysis based on university relationships is helpful in predicting success and in selecting research park development strategies. Attention to university relationships can increase the probability for research park success, but other factors unexamined in this study also are influential in research park development. Recommendations for universities contemplating research park developments are included, as are recommendations for further research on university relationships with industry in research park and other sponsored research activities.