Abstract
Dr. Ray Oakey is senior research associate at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. The current popularity of science parks in Britain is indicated by the existence, or proposed establishment, of various industrial developments on a larger number of university-related sites. The impetus for this enthusiasm appears heavily to rely on evidence from the United States of substantial high technology small firm manufacturing growth in the vicinity of technically oriented universities. Specifically, there is an assumption that the establishment of high technology small firms near to a British university with relevant technical expertise will result in local technical information agglomeration economies for such firms. These economies will accrue from the development of a rich pattern of research based technical interactions. This paper will examine such arguments with the support of empirical evidence, and critically relate these findings to the emerging strategy underpinning the development of British university science parks. In particular, since there is little scope within most university science parks for the development of extensive production, the paper will consider whether the 'critical mass' of research and production agglomeration economies achieved in the United States can be replicated in the emerging 'research only' British science parks.
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