Public support for Science and Technology Parks Creation in Central Europe ? success or failure?

The innovation performance of Central European countries has been very low compared to Western Europe. However, the accession of these countries to the European Union enabled them to access the financial resources of the cohesion policy, representing a significant shift in the availability of financial resources for innovative activities. When forming public policies, countries faced a choice of where to invest these funds. One of the main tools used by the countries was the support for building university science and technology parks (STPs). The aim of this article is to examine how successful public support for the introduction of this instrument was in selected Central European countries. For the investigation, a questionnaire survey was carried out among established science parks, supplemented by interviews in selected parks as well as other relevant institutions. The results showed great differences in the functioning of these institutions in individual countries as well as within them, with a few very successful examples, but also many failures. Continuous government support, the involvement of local actors in the establishment of STPs, and a high degree of independence of STPs when deciding on their activities can be identified as factors that positively influenced the success of STPs.