Technoparks, R&D centers and design centers: A comparative analysis

In the globalizing world, university-industry cooperation has an important place in countries' investments in science, technology, and innovation. In this context, the success of the countries in the developing competitive environment relies on the technocities bringing the knowledge outputs of the universities and the current opportunities of the industry together. On the other hand, the nations must increase investments in R&D activities to produce innovative products, services, and processes. In a similar vein, R&D and design centers founded as separate units by companies are required for these investments. This study compares technocities, R&D, and design centers in Turkey, which functions and aims overlap, to discern whether should do they co-exist together or not. In order to achieve this task, this study conducts a comparative analysis through 2021's statistics of technocity, R&D, and design centers published by the Ministry of Industry and Technology and the legal framework for them. This study's findings suggest that even though their establishment purposes are similar, there are many differences between technocities, R&D, and design centers. Ultimately, this study argues that their contributions to employment, exports and GDP is limited. Keywords: Technocities, R&D Centers, Design Centers, University Industry Cooperation