Evolution of knowledge creation and diffusion: the revisit of Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park

摘要

The Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan has been synonymous with dynamic and flourishing high-tech industries and companies since the 1980s. Using patent citation data, this empirical study shows that Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park is a healthy and knowledge-based cluster surrounded by the semiconductor sector, in which external knowledge is continuously playing an important role, while internalized capability is building up quickly; new and extended industrial clusters are being established by the growth of new ventures; and the linkages of capital, manpower, and technology flows are conducted respectively by the large business groups, the NTHU and NCTU, and the ITRI in the region. Subsequent sectors, repeating the successful model created by and catalyzed from the semiconductor sector are flourishing; the thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and integrated circuit (IC) design sectors have been growing rapidly since the beginning of the 2000s, and the solar photovoltaic and LED (Light-Emitting Diode) sectors emerged quickly in mid-2005. The continuous evolving and growing industries along with the significant increase of value added in the Hsinchu Science Park have demonstrated it is acting as a healthy and vivid innovation region. The policy implications derived from this study can thus shed light, for the Southeast Asian, Latin American or other latecomers, on the strategies for formulating regional research and innovation policies in the process of developing a knowledge-based economy.