PARCON-ESPOL

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MAJO GUZMAN
MA . J O S G U Z M N M.
R O S A P E R E Z A L A V A
INTRODUCTION
The world's first Technology Park was created at Stanford University in 1949: The
Silicon Valley, which soon became a "highly innovative environment" conducive to the
development of high-tech companies, particularly in electronics and computersystems,
including Hewlett-Packard.
THEORETICAL
Years later, in association
with the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology,
"Boston's Route 128"
emerges, whose
development involved other
prestigious universities such
as Harvard, Boston,
Massachusetts. There are
other similar experiences in
several cities in the United
States, including New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia, North
Carolina, Seattle, Florida,
Colorado, Phoenix, San
Antonio, Michigan, among
others. These experiences
have one thing in common:
"the university-industry-
research synergy" venture
capital for high-tech
companies and
entrepreneurship that
rewards innovation.
Throughout the second half
of the twentieth
century,several technology
parks were created in the
United States, Canada,
Europe, Asia, and Latin
America with different
names: Science Park (United Kingdom, Aston Science Park), Technopolis (Japan),
Cities of Science (South Korea), Technopark (France, Belgium), Cities of Knowledge
(Panama), Science-based Industrial Park (Taiwan). They all had common factors:
1. Active participation of the central and local state that supported high-tech
projects for various reasons, from economical to defense reasons;
2. Leadership of universities capable of generating new basic and applied scientific
knowledge and forming the advanced human talent required by the companies
that use scientific-technological knowledge intensively; and,
3. A corporate culture that encourages innovation and investment in high-tech
industries.
In parallel to large technology-based industrial conglomerates, UNESCO promotes
today the creation of Knowledge Parks understood as:
A mechanism to cultivate an innovative business environment;
A space that is developed in partnership with universities capable of doing
research, producing synergy and transferring technology;
A mechanism to speed up the emergence and development of small and
medium-sized technology-based firms (business incubation), those with access
to resources, services, research;
A mechanism that promotes the rapid commercialization of technology.
In the late twentieth century, ESPOLsuggested Ecuador to agree on the need for "a
new development model based on knowledge", understood in economics as a two-lane
process: traditional economy, which should be enhanced from knowledge, exploiting
comparative advantages, and the economy that produces goods and services with high
added value.
This process has the global
context of the new economy
in its various dimensions, as
Ecuador requires currency,
needs to diversify export
production and expand trade
relations; it recognizes the
need for a unitary, diverse
and supportive country,
where the Central State,
autonomous regions,
sectional bodiescoexist in
harmony, creating synergy
towards the overall
development of Ecuador and
promoting local
development, and is guided
by the principles of unity,
freedom of creation,
complementarity, equity, sustainability, accountability and transparency in processes
and results.
The PARCON-ESPOL Knowledge Park, moves forward in it development process whose
organic and scientific genesis dates back to the 90s with the creation and equipment of
several specialized research centers such as Biotechnology, Information Technology,
and other newly created ones which endowed ESPOL with PhD degrees and an
important, but sufficient, physical and technological infrastructure, with an investment
of over $ 10 million dollars, without considering CENAIM.

ENDING
Today, the Knowledge Park (PARCON-ESPOL) is the most important university project
that will contribute to modifying the structure of the domestic production of goods and
services characterized for being primary exporter; to strengthening the National
System of Science, Technology and Innovation, which should generate and transfer the
knowledge demanded by the comprehensive development of Ecuador; and to
improving the higher education system, which should form advanced human talent, do
significant research and articulate teaching and research to the actual and potential
demands of society.