In Greece, science parks have taken on a facilitator role given the absence of regional technology initiatives and the academic orientation of the universities. A set of research institutes within the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH) have promoted this model, seeking explicitly to provide the foundations for a new regionalised research, technology and development infrastructure and to provide technology transfer support, especially from FORTH and university research. As a relatively underdeveloped economy with low levels of R&D investment, Greece had been slow to develop science parks, although there are now parks in many of the larger towns and cities, such as Athens, Patras, Heraklion and Thessaloniki.