Overview Science Parks around the World

Silicon Valley (USA) is the pioneer in developing science parks the world, Sophia Antipolis (France) in Europe and Tsukuba Science City (Japan) in Asia. Silicon Valley (originally Stanford University Science Park) was started in the early 1950s, Sophia Antipolis in 1960s and Tsukuba Science City, in early 1970s. They are the oldest and the most well known science parks in the world. Today, there are over 400 science parks in the world and the number continues to grow. At the top of the list is the USA, which has been reported as having more than 150 science parks. It is followed by Japan with 111 science parks. China started its effort in developing science parks in the mid-1980s and now has around 100, of which 52 were approved by the national government and the rest are approved by local government.