Analysis of Turkey’s Regional Technological Trajectory: Effects of Relatedness Density and Knowledge Complexity on Technological Specialization

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, İşletme Fakültesi, İngilizce İktisat Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2022

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: Mert Abay

Danışman: Emine Sedef Akgüngör

Özet:

rtment of Economics (English)

Economics (English) Program

 

Smart specialization strategies have become a major framework for the European Union (EU) after the 2008 financial crisis to support innovation and sustainable growth. Although smart specialization is an effectively used policy in the EU, little is known about its validity for Turkey. This thesis empirically investigates the impact of smart specialization variables (relatedness and complexity) on technological change (entry and exit of technologies to and from regions) for Turkey’s regions at NUTS-3 level over the period of 1978-2017 using patent data from OECD-REGPAT database.

Using logistic regression and linear probability model, the thesis discovers the patterns of technological specialization in Turkey and provides policy makers with a policy perspective in line with the smart specialization framework. GDP per capita, population, number of universities, and number of techno parks of regions are included as control variables.

The results show that the coefficients of relatedness density, population, and per capita GDP variables are positive and significant in the entry model in which the emergence of new technologies in the regions is examined. In the exit model, where the abandonment of technologies is examined, the coefficients of the knowledge complexity and techno park variables are negative and significant. The results show that the patterns of technological change in Turkey differ based on the existing knowledge and capabilities of the regions, which is in line with the assumptions of smart specialization. Thus, it is suggested that innovation policies would yield better results when designed based on unique characteristics of regions and region-specific objectives.

 

Keywords: Smart Specialization, Technological Change, Relatedness Density, Knowledge Complexity.