Effectiveness of Turkey’s Public Policies Supporting Technological Innovation and Productivity Increase at The Age of Knowledge Economy

Abstract

There is consensus in Turkey that knowledge economy and technological innovation are the driving force of economic growth. However, there are deficiencies in the development of holistic and result-oriented technology management and supportive public policies. Turkey has difficulty in achieving organizational change required by the knowledge economy since the beginning of the 21st century, with falling competitiveness, workforce skill levels and technological infrastructure can not be developed at the level that would support productivity growth and technological innovation. Turkey with having a young population, productive universities, flexible and enterprising private sector and being close to markets, to realize its potential, technology should become one of the main elements of public policy and a technological innovation culture should be developed under the leadership of the public sector. In this study, it is tried to reveal the outlines of the change in technological innovation and productivity increase. In this context, traditional production structures and the reasons for failure of technology policies are examined and the increasing and changing role of public sector is emphasized. In the second part of the study, to examine Turkey’s technological innovation and to make comparisons; The Global Competitiveness Index developed by the World Economic Forum, the Global Innovation Index developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Basic Science and Technology Indicators published by the OECD are being used. At the conclusion of the study, R&D and innovation support policies of the public sector in Turkey is evaluated in the light of new international practices. It also includes policy and solution proposals that strengthen the links between scientific research and commercial entrepreneurship, including reforms and investments that improve technological production infrastructure and human resources.