The role of technology development zones in ensuring university industry cooperation: The case of Muğla Technopark

The importance of gaining competence in technological innovation has increased to a great extent in order to realize economic growth, gain international competitive advantage and produce advanced technologies. In addition, the National Innovation System, which is a set of institutional structures and practices aiming to increase the innovation ability of countries, has started to attract great attention in recent years. One of the main factors underlying this interest is the rapid change and technological race seen in today's knowledge-based economies. The concept of the "National Innovation System" began to be widely used in the development of technology and innovation policies, especially in the 1990s. While this concept covers all institutions that affect the technological development process, on the other hand, it has been extremely effective as it brings the country's international competitiveness and its position in the international division of labor to the agenda. Institutional structures known as the National Innovation System; It indicates a highly competitive economic efficiency by integrating with science, technology and innovation policies. The fact that countries, which prioritize innovation and determine their strategic moves in this direction, gain an advantageous position is due to the fact that they follow a route in accordance with the requirements of the National Innovation System process. The aim of this study is to explain the functioning of the National Innovation System and to reveal the contribution of Technology Development Zones (Technopark), which is one of the important actors in terms of producing and disseminating information in the system, to increasing the innovation capacity of the country. Within the scope of the study, a special examination was made in the Technopark located in Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. In the study, the employees and managers of the enterprises in the technopolis were interviewed; It has been checked whether the objectives of the technopark are reflected in the activities of the enterprises. According to the information obtained in the study, technopark enterprises are still insufficient in producing new products and technology transfer. Keywords: Technopark, Innovation, National Innovation System, Muğla