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Excerpt from infoDev's report "International Good Practices for the Establishment of Sustainable IT Parks."

Information and communication technology (ICT) is an important tool for development due to its ability to increase productivity, but in order to have a coherent discussion about the role of ICT in the economy. The information technology sector (defined here to mean the ICT industry minus telecommunications providers), is a vibrant, worldwide economy with global exports in 2004 totally USD$1213 billion.

In an economy increasingly driven by innovation, as opposed to the application of capital or labor, IT parks have become an established part of the innovation infrastructure in many countries. They represent an economic development  tool that is  particularly suited to  developing regional knowledge  economies. In appropriate regional environments, these parks have been found to provide a specialist mechanism to promote and stimulate commercial and industrial innovation, encourage re-industrialization, and foster sustainable regional development infrastructure options.

As nations seek to emulate the success of Chinese and Indian high-technology, not to mention American versions such as Silicon Valley, IT parks are spreading as recognized inputs towards innovative development.