Sustainable Industrial Park Platform
Countries often cannot create the business environment or build the enabling infrastructure nationwide all at once due to limited resources and scarce implementation capacity. As an alternative, governments establish a "special territory" equipped with the necessary infrastructure to create a conducive business environment by removing critical constraints hindering investment flows. The fundamental idea of an "industrial park" is that it is an industrial policy instrument, designed by the government to attract investment with the ultimate objective of achieving growth and development. Various terminologies are used to refer to such territory, including free-trade zones (FTZs), export processing zones (EPZs), special economic zones (SEZs), high-tech zones, free ports, enterprise zones, etc. Such variation in terminologies, among other reasons, is the result of differences in the objectives, functions or forms of these parks, as well as the desire of certain industrial parks or programmes to differentiate themselves. UNIDO uses the concept “industrial park” to refer to the location-specific industrial policy instruments, often with the prefix eco, sustainable, agro, and techno (e.g. eco-industrial parks, sustainable industrial parks, agro-food parks,).
The principal rationale for implementing industrial parks/zones is to enable firms to settle and develop at a specific location that is planned and dedicated to that effect. Industrial parks are designed to attract investment, create employment and boost export by overcoming constraints that hinder industrialization processes, such as limited access to infrastructure, technology, and finance, as well as high production and transaction costs stemming from the lack of infrastructure and weak institutions outside the parks.
An industrial park is distinguished from other types of business and industrial locations, and from the simple clustering or agglomeration of industries in a specific location by the following five characteristics:
Industrial Park Benefits
Standards & Guidelines
UNIDO's Role in Promoting Industrial Parks Development
The development of competitive industrial parks is instrumental for the promotion of inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID), in particular in developing countries and economies in transition. This mandate is central to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goal 9: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”, with interlinkages to support the achievement of the other SDGs. Meeting this goal requires, among others, adequate infrastructure development that can support investment in priority sectors of Member States and overcome the constraints associated with doing business in an economy.
Over the past four decades, UNIDO has been assisting its Member States and stakeholders in the planning, development and management of industrial parks around the world. Countries benefit from UNIDO’s expertise in capacity-building and technical assistance at different stages of industrial parks development. For example, UNIDO supported industrial parks development in countries across different regions (e.g. in China, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nigeria and Vietnam), facilitated public-private partnerships, and helped address regulatory and institutional issues (e.g. in Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq and Nigeria).
UNIDO Industrial Parks related services
Knowledge management through undertaking various scientific studies and producing technical reports, manuals, guidelines, etc. to provide necessary guidance tools to support our Member States and partners on issues related to industrial park development. Some of UNIDO's industrial parks related publications include:
·UNIDO(2022). Comparative Research Report on the Localized Performance Indicator Systems of the International Guidelines for Industrial Parks in China
·UNIDO, GIZ & WBG (2021). An International Framework for Eco-Industrial Parks
·UNIDO (2021). Experiences and best practices of industrial park development in the people’s republic of china
·UNIDO (2019). A Practitioner’s Handbook for Eco-Industrial Parks
·UNIDO (2019). International Guidelines for Industrial Parks
·UNIDO (2018). Leveraging A New Generation of Industrial Parks and Zones for Inclusive and Sustainable Development - Strategic Framework
·UNIDO (1997). Industrial Estates: Principles and Practice
·UNIDO (1978). Guidelines for Establishment of Industrial Estates in Developing Countries;
Provide technical assistance by undertaking various studies(pre)feasibility studies, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), resettlement plans, etc.), masterplan development, engineering design, constructions and other services aimed at environmental sustainability (law-carbon energy supply, waste management, etc.). Countries, where UNIDO is currently providing such support for industrial parks development, include Cameron, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe, among others.
Support partnerships by bringing together and mobilizing diverse streams of partners (governments, development financial institutions, private sector, civil society, academia, etc), financial resources and knowledge in order to create the necessary synergies to promote and boost industrial development and to maximize growth opportunities following the establishment of industrial parks.
Capacity building and skills development to industrial parks practitioners and policy-makers through trainings, study tours, expert exchanges, peer learnings, and various simulation exercises aimed to build capacities and provide knowledge in a wide range of technical areas related to industrial parks.
Facilitate dialogue to promote knowledge exchange at the national, regional or global levels through organization of conferences, forums, workshops, etc.
·Industrial Parks for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, Peru
·Promoting Sustainable Industrial Parks and Low-Carbon Urban-Industrial Development for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization, UAE
Provide a normative framework that ensures adherence to international standards in areas of planning, implementation and evaluation of industrial parks initiatives.
