Technology, Market and Company Journeys: How Can We Help Them Succeed? - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 198

• Active engagement between customers and suppliers in supply chains helps to
drive utilisation of new ideas.

When science parks were first established the networks they created tended not
to be supported by any explicit plan; however, the value of these linkages is now
recognised and this has prompted the extension of this idea into creating regional
innovation systems. These systems use active management, policy frameworks
and interventions to try to ensure that the necessary linkages that connect supply
and demand are created and each element operates to its full potential. These
elements are characterised in Fig. 3 .
This system attempts to create the foundations for building capacity for inno-
vation. This connects knowledge creation, encourages the wider use of skills to
absorb ideas for commercialisation, helps diffuse these ideas into a wide target

Fig. 3 Characterisation of an innovation system—after UNECE description UNECE ( 2009 )