Science parks have been in existence for over 20 years in the UK. A review of these reveals that there are three groups (stakeholders) that have an interest in these projects, each of which has a variety of objectives for involvement. However, there is one common or cross cutting objective for all stakeholders which is an interest in knowledge transfer and commercialization. Over the years there have been a number studies in the UK that have looked at this common purpose and some suggest that science parks do not meet this objective. In 2003 the UK Science Park Association (UKSPA) and the UK Government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Small Business Service (SBS) funded a comparative study of 876 companies both on and off science parks in an attempt to evaluate the past and future economic contribution of the UK Science Park Movement. The most significant finding and conclusion of this study was that there were significant differences in the performance of Science Park across the UK and that this performance was as a result of the economic environment in which individual parks operate. In addition, the study showed that science parks play a positive role in supporting the growth of technology - related businesses, and hence wealth creation, in the UK; they make a significant and distinct contribution to the UK’s economic infrastructure; the accommodation they provide is valued by tenants and the overall commercial performance of the companies based on them is better than similar firms located elsewhere. The broad conclusion of this study were that the effectiveness of science parks in helping tenant companies drive technology up the value chain, is dependent on a number of other external factors and this highlighted the need to develop and implement wider policies and strategies to support science parks if they are to reach their full potential as instruments of economic development. This paper reviews some of the studies on science parks and considers these in the context of both the findings of the
