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Good practice Imported

Ciudad del Saber — Panama's 25-Year Conversion of a Former U.S. Military Base into an Innovation District

Panama · Panama City · See the Panama profile · See the Panama City profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 39% 71/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A former U.S. Canal Zone military base became a Panamanian innovation district that in 2024 hosted 34 international organisations and 135 tech/education entities, and incubated 300+ startups generating over $21M in revenue.

300+ startups
Startups incubated in the preceding five years (2019-2024)
21 USD million+
Combined startup revenue generated (2019-2024)
13,000+ entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs mentored (cumulative) (cumulative)
8,000 women
Women trained (cumulative) (cumulative)
783.6 USD million
Ecosystem gross production value (2024)
314 USD million
Ecosystem contribution to GDP value-added (2024)
34 organisations
International organisations hosted (2024)
135 organisations
Innovation/tech/education organisations hosted (2024)
Ciudad del Saber — Panama's 25-Year Conversion of a Former U.S. Military Base into an Innovation District

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Fundación Ciudad del Saber
Period
1999–present
Keywords
innovation district, business incubation, entrepreneurship, knowledge economy, urban regeneration

Context

Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge) is a mixed-use innovation district built on land reverted from the former U.S. Fort Clayton military base in the Panama Canal Zone. Run by the private non-profit Fundación Ciudad del Saber since 1999, it combines business incubation, higher-education programmes and offices for international organisations on a single campus.

Activities

The foundation runs business incubation, entrepreneur mentoring and training programmes alongside hosting international organisations and academic programmes on the shared campus.

Results

According to 25th-anniversary reporting by three independent Panamanian outlets in 2024, the campus incubated more than 300 startups over the preceding five years, generating combined revenue over $21 million, mentored 13,000+ entrepreneurs and trained 8,000 women; ecosystem organisations on campus registered $783.6 million in gross production value and contributed $314 million in value-added to GDP that year; and the campus currently hosts 34 international organisations, 135 innovation/tech/education organisations and 25+ academic programmes.

Conclusions

Ciudad del Saber is a private foundation-led public-private conversion rather than a government-run programme, and the quantified figures come from local press reporting on foundation/ecosystem-supplied data rather than an independent economic-impact audit; no direct replication of the specific base-conversion model elsewhere was found in the sources reviewed.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Long-running campus redevelopment and operating costs borne by the private foundation since 1999.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — 25-year conversion and growth process from 1999 through 2024 anniversary reporting.
Staffing & skills
Fundación Ciudad del Saber (private non-profit foundation)

Conditions for success

  • Government land reversion (former Fort Clayton military base) enabling a large contiguous campus
  • Co-location of business incubation, higher education and international organisations on one campus

Common failure modes

  • Reliance on foundation/ecosystem self-reported data rather than an independent audit
  • No confirmed replication of the specific military-base-to-innovation-district conversion model elsewhere

Where it fits

Governance type
Private non-profit foundation on public-private converted land
Scale
District/campus
Income level
Upper-middle-income (Panama)

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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