Evaluation of innovation performance using the CRITIC-based MARCOS method: The case of European Union member states and Türkiye

In the global competitive environment, innovation plays a crucial role in enabling countries to achieve their goals of economic growth, technological development, and sustainable development. Therefore, evaluating and comparing the innovation performance of countries using multidimensional indicators is of great importance to policymakers. The aim of this study is to analyze the innovation performances of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) and Türkiye using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). For this purpose, seven main criteria representing innovation performance were used. These criteria are institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creativity outputs. In this study, the criterion weights were determined using the CRITIC method, which offers an objective approach, while the MARCOS method was used to rank the innovation performance of the countries. According to the results obtained using the CRITIC method, infrastructure is the criterion with the highest weight in evaluating innovation performance. According to the results obtained using the MARCOS method, the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark rank highest in terms of innovation performance, while Portugal, Romania and Malta rank lowest. Türkiye, on the other hand, exhibited a low level of performance and was placed in the lower group in the ranking. The findings show that there are significant differences in innovation capacity among European countries, and that countries with strong infrastructure, developed market structures, and creative production capacity have higher innovation performance.