@article{article_978402, title={Innovation, Relatedness and Complexity in Turkey: A Regional Analysis for 1978-2017}, journal={Ekonomi-tek}, volume={10}, pages={135–171}, year={2021}, author={Abay, Mert and Akgüngör, Sedef and Akyıldız, Yağmur Tuçe}, keywords={ilişkililik, karmaşıklık, akıllı uzmanlaşma, patentler, Türkiye}, abstract={The paper aims to explore innovations and smart specialization opportunities in Turkey’s regions. Patent applications measure innovations. Relatedness density and regional complexity measure prospects for smart specialization. The data is from OECD RegPat data (January 2020) for the 1978 – 2017 period. Following the approach outlined in smart specialization literature, the paper demonstrates geographic distribution of patents, average relatedness density and complexity of Turkey’s regions. There are four main results of the paper. Firstly, patent applications in Turkey during the 1978-2017 period are mostly low-tech products. Secondly, regional distribution of patent applications and relatedness density is uneven. Thirdly, regional knowledge complexity index became uniform over time, indicating that creating unique regional positions became harder. Fourthly, the potential of regions for smart specialization is higher in west of Istanbul-Ankara-Adana axis.}, number={3}, publisher={Türkiye Ekonomi Kurumu Vakfı}