“Lex Lata” and “de lege Ferenda” for the R&D Law of Turkey

In this chapter, the content sophistication (legislative-executive and techno-economic conception and implementation) of the R&D Law No. 5746 of Turkey is analyzed by the constructed general framework of reference for content sophistication analysis with respect to the framing principles of neo-classical (optimizing) and evolutionary (adaptive) policy making and policy implementation approaches (Metcalfe, 1995) through their distinct underlying conceptions and implementations regarding to the “nature of technology,” “using, creating, diffusing technology and knowledge,” “specificity, variety, and mode of transfer,” “externalities,” and “risk/uncertainty” (Lall & Teubal, 1998). According to the results of the analysis, it is shown that, for the time being, the R&D Law No. 5746 of Turkey exhibits features of neo-classical (optimizing) policy making frames from conception to implementation in legislative-executive and techno-economic spheres of research and technology development. In comparison to these neoclassical features, features of evolutionary (adaptive) policymaking frames in other economies around the world are exemplified separately. By concentrating on “Iter Legis”: “path that a law takes from its conception to its implementation,” this chapter aims to contribute to discussions and recommendations on “Lex Lata”: “the current law” and “de lege Ferenda”: “future law” for R&D and innovation in any country where “the future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented” (Gabor, 1963) through legislative-executive terms of techno-economic demand and imagination.

The Potential Role of Government in Development Process of a Cluster Policy

Recent evidence strongly suggests that firms’ joint action may be insufficient for the creation of clusters in order to face the new competitive pressures of globalization. To cope with these pressures, the authors argue that governments can play an important role in the process of creating the development of clusters. Based on a theoretical framework, they examine the way in which governmental intervention and public policies to foster cluster creation may provide positive outcomes. Here, the authors study the different approaches developed in cluster theories and provide an insight into the set of governmental and policy roles that may facilitate the formulation of local clusters. Finally, they propose a re-conceptualization of clusters theory that will potentially increase its value as a comprehensive tool for regional economic development.

Academic Patenting in Europe

This chapter summarizes the results of the project titled Academic Patenting in Europe (APE-INV). The key aims of the project are the creation and diffusion of a harmonized database on academic patenting in Europe. The database allows for the investigation of the economic returns of academic patenting at the scientist, university, and industry level. It also helps to investigate the extent of synergies and trade-offs between patenting and other technology transfer means such as consultancy, mobility of personnel, as well as teaching, conferencing, and publishing. Finally, it provides the basis for the creation of a larger database on inventors in Europe, to be used in studies on knowledge diffusion and labour mobility. The basic evidence from the database is opposed to the view that the European universities are lagging behind the US in terms of universities’ contribution to patenting. The bulk of academic patents remained in the hands of the companies having strong ties with academic scientists. The European policies mainly addressed the narrow issue of technology transfer and patent ownership, and were not strong enough to change the fundamentals of the research systems.

Foreign Direct Investment and Technology Spillovers in the Turkish Manufacturing Industry

Technology spillovers from foreign to local firms in emerging economies are considered to be the most important channel through which Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) influences the host economy. Empirical evidence about the existence, magnitude, and direction of FDI-related spillovers in these countries is contradictory, pointing to the necessity of conducting more econometric studies using firm-level data. The authors conduct an econometric analysis to assess the impact of FDI-related horizontal technology spillovers on output growth of local firms in the Turkish manufacturing industry over 2003-2006. When a broad definition of foreign ownership is adopted, their findings suggest that horizontal spillovers occur from foreign to local firms in the sector of activity. Export-oriented firms do not benefit from these spillovers in contrast to firms producing mainly for the local market. However, when foreign ownership is defined according to whether the minority or majority of capital is detained by the foreign partner, horizontal spillovers seem to originate from foreign firms with majority or full foreign ownership, while no such effect is associated with minority-owned foreign firms.

Foreign Direct Investment as a Development Strategy

This chapter investigates the spillover effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on innovation capability in four competing emerging economies in the district of Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey, for the period 1995-2008. Panel data models are employed to test two competing hypotheses regarding the impact of FDI on innovation capability: it may improve the innovation capability of host countries via spillover channels, or may lead to the crowding-out effect through the importation of technologies via joint ventures. The empirical evidence corroborates that FDI inflows generate spillover effects on domestic innovation capability in competing emerging countries, supporting the hypothesis that inward FDI brings knowledge spillovers, new technologies, and products into the host country and promotes the innovation capability of domestic firms. In addition, the level of human capital stock and qualified researchers play a crucial role in stimulating innovative capability and technological progress.

Socio-Technical Issues in Youth Employment in SMEs

This chapter investigates how technological developments implemented in the production processes and organizational structures of small and medium sized enterprises affect the skills and therefore the employment of young workers in these businesses. The furniture sector in the greater region of Ankara in Turkey is explored in this chapter because it is one of the fastest growing sectors in the new millennium, and the rate of youth employment is very high. Young workers face severe problems due to the technological developments and organizational changes occurring in these enterprises. Many of them are either removed from production processes or dismissed from the company. To have a decent job, the young generation working in this sector should not be alienated from the production process. It is claimed that this major problem of bias towards young workers can be solved by a proper education, which will greatly increase their technical skills.

User Acceptance of eGovernment Services

This chapter identifies user satisfaction levels of eGovernment services. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) deals with the prediction of the acceptability of an information system. TAM posits that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use determine an individual’s adoption of a system with intention to use serving as a mediator of actual system usage. In this chapter, a modified version of the TAM is proposed to predict the acceptability of eGovernment services and to identify the modifications, which must be brought to the system in order to make it acceptable to users. In the chapter, one of the most used eGovernment projects, e-school, is investigated according to TAM. An Internet-based survey questionnaire was applied to identify factors that influence users’ satisfaction from one of the eGovernment services in Turkey. The sample was 30 teachers, who are working in public and private schools. A factor analysis was conducted on the questionnaire items, and a regression analysis, dependent on the factor analysis, was performed to determine and evaluate the effects of the factors on user satisfaction. The authors found that five main factors have significant affect on the satisfaction of users related to the e-School system. These factors are utilitarian ease of use, system usefulness, system content, system usability, and ease of use. The authors contributed to existing literature by adding a new construct, which refers to utilitarian ease of use.

Value Creation with Wood-Based Energy Business Models

Renewable energy sources are increasingly coming into use. This notably counts for non-food based biomass sources, including those producing wood-based energy. A firm that (re-)directs activities to this area can potentially create value. The external and internal environment of the firm sets the outline for the value creation potential. Important in the value creation process are dynamic capabilities to alter resource bases. The authors show this with an example in the mature Finnish pulp and paper industry. A Delphi study helps to identify the main industry- and company-level factors that influence the forest-based energy sector, its value-creation potential, and the future roles of forest and energy companies in it. The results of a study on a power plant in The Netherlands shows how the economic value creation for a specific firm can be assessed. The plant is designed to “vaporize” biomass input, in our case so-called “B-wood,” to a bio-oil that can be used to generate Green Power. The economic value analysis draws upon a risk-oriented production unit positioning analysis that is modeled with multiple scenarios. The results show that innovative business models can fruitfully be identified with multiple experts in sophisticated Delphi rounds and dynamic resource-based approaches appear promising. The authors also find that bio-refinery production chains are economically feasible with relatively small production units with multiple applications. The chapter gives way to a management view that integrates resource-based and economic value perspectives on wood-based energy sources for firms. In that sense, it adds to the literature on value creation with innovative business models.

The Effectiveness of Stimulating Innovativeness in Poland through Science and Technology Parks

The aim of the chapter is to examine the effectiveness of S&T parks after five years of the Polish presence in the EU. The results of the empirical research, presented in the chapter, show that the effectiveness of enhancing innovativeness is hardly satisfactory. For instance, from 2007-2009 almost 400 incumbents of 25 existing Science and Technology parks in Poland were only able to claim 18 patents. The main drawbacks of Polish S&T parks are: 1) specialization mostly comprising general ICTs, which, as the authors argue, is too broad; 2) insufficient research equipment; 3) the lack of co-operation with R&D institutions other then universities; 4) focusing on fulfilling the EU funds’ criteria as to provide the exact number of jobs created or to rent a particular office space. It is also important to note that 53% of incubators and S&T parks’ income originates from European funds—in the near future, new methods of raising income must be developed by these institutions or they will cease to exist. These policy issues are relevant not only for Poland but for any economy contemplating active government involvement in R&D.

RCA vs. RTA and Sectoral Import vs. RTA

In mainstream literature, it is argued that technological specialization patterns of countries should be in accordance with their trade specialization pattern. In empirical applications, a Revealed Technological Advantage (RTA) index is used to measure technological specialization while a Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index is used to measure trade specialization patterns. This chapter provides an extensive analysis of the relation between RTA and RCA of seven developed countries (Germany, France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, the UK, and the USA) for twenty-one manufacturing sectors. RCA indexes are calculated by using worldwide export data whereas RTA indexes are measured by patents granted in Turkey over the period 1990-2006. Although a bird’s eye view supports a relation, there has not been a strong statistical validation of the relationship between these two variables; in addition, this chapter investigates whether RTA is related to the sectoral import ratio of Turkey for each country. Empirical findings indicate that the direction of the relationship between the sectoral import ratio and RTA varies according to the technological composition of sectors for each country.