What is Science Parks

Research on the relationship between entrepreneurship and context has gained considerable attention in recent years. However, this stream of literature has yet to adequately address the topic of entrepreneurship in rural areas. This chapter intends to fill this gap by investigating the extent to which technological-related factors affect the performance of new ventures located in rural and urban areas. Based on a sample of 408 newly created ventures located in Portuguese business incubators (BIs) and science parks (SPs), and employing logistic estimations, two main conclusions were derived. They are 1) support from BIs/SPs matters the most to the export and global innovation performance of new ventures located in rural areas and 2) support from universities and other higher education institutions, and the regularity of research and development (R&D) collaborations between new ventures and R&D institutions are more relevant to the turnover and innovation performance of new ventures located in urban areas than those in rural areas.