Technology parks in Colombia as instruments that link universities with the environment.

Abstract

In the international context, mainly in developed countries, technology parks have played for over three decades a major role in the transfer of knowledge from academia to the environment and the active involvement of actors such as universities, companies and the State. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to show the characteristics and challenges of the leading technology parks in Colombia, as a mechanism for university-environment. To meet the proposed objective were held semi-structured interviews with the heads of four technology parks in the national assets and an interview with officials from Colciencias on the performance of national parks. The result was a characterization under the main variables CLIP Model World Bank and the World Alliance for Innovation-Wainova on the structure of technology parks and the main challenges that the Colombian environment provides for their operations. In conclusion, technology parks Colombia despite being relatively new, have established a foundation for productive development, however, require a boost and approval from all levels if it is to contribute significantly as a tool for linking actors regional economic development.