Research parks usually exist on university land that is leased for a long term. The parks host industrial scientists and other workers, as well as university researchers from natural science and occasionally social science disciplines. The main attraction to private industry is the university, particularly access to its faculty and educated work force, libraries, and special instrumentation facilities. For university scientists, the draw is the added vigor of aligning their work with a company's profit motive.

Likely tenant candidates for research parks are private businesses and government laboratories that wish to take advantage of a neighboring university's brain trust and specialized facilities, or basic and applied research labs that seek more plentiful or more modern work space as well as consulting contracts or private business partnerships with the general aim of commercializing laboratory discoveries. Most parks offer incubator services--programs to help, advise, and educate new entrepreneurs, including providing low-rent space...

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