Evaluation of critical factors for the regional innovation system within the HsinChu science-based park

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to collate relevant literature on the theoretical background of regional innovation systems and factors that impact the operational effectiveness of regional innovation systems. Design/methodology/approach – The collated information is then used to determine the opinions of experts from industries within science-based parks, and the scholars on the researches of regional innovation systems in Taiwan. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to evaluate the critical factors of regional innovation systems. Findings – This study finds that industry cluster effects constitute the most significant operating factor for regional innovation systems within the Taiwanese science-based parks. In addition, this study not only confirms that partners or parent firm location which were advocated by Tödtling et al. are also critical to Taiwanese regional innovation systems, but also verifies how well the relationships to partners or parent firm are equally important for expansion the regional innovation systems. Research limitations/implications – The concepts of regional innovation system have been established since 1990, and related articles have been published from European and Asian scholars, however, seldom does literature offer questionnaires or research items to measure the operational effectiveness of a regional innovation system. Therefore this study has developed a questionnaire, by reviewing literature and verifying it by the AHP method, with Taiwan’s HsinChu Science Park as the subject case. For the contribution on theories, this study inducted the construction of new innovation environments, new interactional behavior in regional organization innovation, and injection of new resources into regional innovation as the three main constructs to influence the operational effectiveness of regional innovation systems. In addition, this study has used experts’ questionnaire answers and the AHP method to clarify the priority of factors to operate the regional innovation system. Practical implications – Industry cluster effect, construction of knowledge infrastructure and how close partners or parent firm are (distance and relationship) are the top three factors in HsinChu Science Park. The duties of the government are not merely picking good firms for the regional innovation system, but also making policies and defining regimes, providing a good business environment for campus firms, universities, and research institutions, as well as offering plenty of R & D funding to encourage industry-academia cooperation. Governments must invest in infrastructures, such as: establishing databases, libraries, information networks, the national technical standards for certification, and other public services, to facilitate industry-academia cooperation. Social implications – These research results indicate the operating essentials of regional innovation systems are not limited to interactions among regional organizations. This study suggests that the success or failure of a new regional innovation system would instead, be dependent on the regional environment, as in software planning and support, as well as the relationship of innovation with policy implementation and administration. Originality/value – Results showed that the top-five factors influencing the operational effectiveness of regional innovation systems are the industry cluster effect, the construction of knowledge infrastructure, how close to partner’s or parent’s firm (distance and relationship), import of foreign capital and technology, and the implementation of regional innovation policy.