Science and technology parks and firm growth

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to understanding the role played by Science and Technology Parks in fostering firm growth. Public policies have given such parks a central role but empirical research has not come to a consensus on whether there is a link between in‐park location and firm growth. Applying a matching procedure to our mercantile register data we obtain a database of 286 in‐park firms, together with 268 out‐park firms. Our results show that in‐park firms show greater growth rates and volatility than their counterparts, but we do not find evidence of their capacity to obtain larger long‐term debts. Keywords: science and technology parks, firm location, firm growth. JEL codes: L25, O30, R11, R58