Incubation and Technology Parks: Recent Trends, Research and Approaches

The direct and dynamic relationship linking academia with industry has been the ability by academia to provide practical solutions and innovations to solve industry’s challenges. In recent years and in response to the rapid changes in technology, higher education institutions have invested in innovation hubs for incubating novel ideas as well as technology and industrial parks for developing the same ideas to commercialisation. This chapter focusses on business incubation principles and the establishment of innovation hubs, science and technology parks by institutions under the Southern Africa Engineering Education Network (SAE²Net), how these have prospered and how the technology parks improved technology transfer. Although SAE²Net members are situated in the same region, this chapter also analyses how the different country environments affected the development of such parks. Success variable factors for product development and sustainability of the parks as well as constraints and challenges were analysed to enhance bridging of the gap between academia and industry through science and technology innovations.