University science parks and promoting knowledge transfer in emerging economies: A study on required attributes with evidences from South Africa and China

As a challenge to traditional theories, some university science parks (USPs) in emerging countries appear to show their capabilities in knowledge transfer recently. This paper, therefore, aims to explore the attributes that are required for these USPs in emerging countries to better promote knowledge transfer. This paper develops an analytical framework through analyzing two selected cases in South Africa and China from an open innovation perspective, and required attributes are classified as link building for knowledge exploration and knowledge commercialization for exploitation. On institutional level, property right policy, support from government, and proper rules of academic appraisal are found to be key attributes, while tenant service and management of park-university partnership are salient ones on park-level. This paper originally explores the knowledge-transfer of USPs in two important emerging economies, South Africa and China. It will be of great interest to policy makers, academic researchers, investors, and entrepreneurs.