Regional Innovation Performances in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to provide a temporal dynamic analysis of transitions of the regions in Turkey from one state of innovative performance to another by using successive Markov Chains. Regarding the intellectual assets, consisting of the patent, utility model, trademark and design applications, Markov Chains have revealed that there are regional disparities (between i. regions located in the east and west of the country, ii. metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions, iii. high-developed and relatively less-developed regions). Results show that metropolitan regions have higher performances. Innovation leaders which take place in all indicators and time periods in terms of applications are Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Eskişehir, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya and Manisa regions. It is explicitly distinct that İstanbul leads in the innovation performances for each variable in all time periods. In contrast, regions with the lowest innovation performances are Ağrı, Artvin, Bingöl, Bitlis, Erzincan, Hakkari, Kars, Muş, Siirt, Tunceli, Bayburt, Bartın, Ardahan, Iğdır and Kilis. In addition to having the lowest innovation performances, these regions are identified by state policies as ‘priority regions in development’ or ‘state of emergency regions’.