Science and technology parks (STPs) have proliferated in many countries as an innovation
policy tool. Several studies have used patent counts to assess their impact on innovation
performance rather than the quality of patents, leading to mixed results. The aim of this
paper is to explore whether STPs contribute to increasing the quality of patents filed by
tenants since patent counts alone do not capture the technological or economic value of the
patented inventions. Using a novel database of Spanish patents generated on- and off-park
together with firms’ characteristics, we compare the quality of patents filed by firms located
inside and outside STPs and find that STPs have a positive effect on the quality of the ten-
ants’ innovative performance. We apply a novel econometric technique to confirm that our
results are robust to omitted variable bias and explore possible channels through which
STPs produce an effect on patent quality, such as by facilitating collaboration, increasing
collaboration with universities, and fostering the internationalisation of inventions.
