A research on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises' innovativeness in Turkey in the framework of science and technology policies

Innovation capability, which is one of the most important requirement for countries to have a place in global competition and to ensure sustainable economic development, has been discussed in the literature for many years and still continues to be relevant as a research topic. It is very important that all actors, including research institutions, manufacturing firms, policy-making institutions that play a role in the formation, implementation, support and maintenance of innovation ability, act together in determining strategies and transferring the right tools to the right channels. In this study, the effectiveness of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in the innovation system, which constitutes a large portion of the manufacturing industry in business activities, has been investigated within the framework of Turkish Science and Technology Policies based on the data published by European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB). According to the results of the research, while the critical role of supports in raising awareness in research and development (R&D), product design, export and patent applications is revealed, it has been observed that external support provided to firms has a positive impact on encouraging SMEs. Research findings are also supported by existing literature. The study provides contribution to the innovation literature throught applied policy instruments as well as improve our understanding of innovation capability phenomenon, which is in at the maturation stage.