Iran&#039;s Science and Technology Parks in a Development Bottleneck: Analysis and Re-reading of Strategic Components Based on the CRAFT Model

Nasri, Shohreh; Farazkish, Mahdieh; Pakniyat, Maryam; Heitani, Hossein

doi:10.22059/jppolicy.2026.413952.2885

Iran's Science and Technology Parks in a Development Bottleneck: Analysis and Re-reading of Strategic Components Based on the CRAFT Model

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Shohreh Nasri ¹

Mahdieh Farazkish ²

Maryam Pakniyat ³

Hossein Heitani ¹

¹ NRISP

² Policy Evaluation and STI Monitoring Research Group, National Research Institute for Science Policy, Tehran, Iran

³ Tarbiat Modares University

10.22059/jppolicy.2026.413952.2885

Abstract

Science and technology parks (STPs), as key institutions in the innovation ecosystem, play a vital role in the formation, growth, and commercialization of knowledge-based firms and are considered a prerequisite for moving towards a knowledge-based economy. Despite the quantitative expansion of these institutions in Iran over the past two decades, evidence suggests that this development has not necessarily led to qualitative performance improvements or the realization of expected goals. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze the strategic components of Iran's STPs by identifying and analyzing the challenges affecting their performance, as well as extracting strategic requirements and improvement measures based on the CRAFT model. The findings reveal that Iranian STPs face five main categories of challenges: financial-economic, infrastructural, innovation ecosystem, institutional-governance, and cultural-environmental. The results indicate that these challenges stem from institutional gaps and the misalignment of policies with executive mechanisms, requiring an integrated approach based on innovation governance reforms.

Keywords

Science and Technology Parks

Policy Analysis

CRAFT Model

Institutional Gap

Innovation Governance

Subjects