Innovation and Competitive Power

World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, İstanbul, Türkiye, 28 - 30 Mayıs 2015, cilt.195, ss.1311-1320

The efforts to liberalize the world trade that started with the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) on the one hand

and with regional integrations on the other hand after the World War II and the acceleration of globalization since the beginning

of 1980s have caused the abolishment of borders among the countries. The developments in information and communications

technology and the increase of the movement of capital have caused the economic structures, legal systems and life styles of

countries to become similar. With the disappearance of protective tendencies on world trade, there has been an increase in the

exporting countries and exported products and also the similarity of consumption patterns along with globalization has also

increased the world trade. Therefore, as many countries produce and export similar products, the increase of international

competition has become indispensable. Within this intense competitive environment, the necessity to produce highly competitive

products has caused to invent new products or to improve the existing products, which is called the process of innovation. Within

this scope, the factor of innovation represented by R&D activities and Patents has become an important element of competitive

power. This study will therefore first try to reveal the relationship between innovation and competitive power, and this will be

followed by an analysis of Turkey’s situation.

Keywords: globalization, innovation, competitiveness