Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of patenting activity in the context of Turkish manufacturing industry. The literature tells us that many variables can be used while investigating patenting or innovative activity. The dependent variable chosen for this study is the number of patent applications per year. Since the dependent variable is a non-negative integer, count data methodology is employed in order to capture the non-linear nature of the data. A conditional fixed effects Poisson panel regression has been estimated for Turkish manufacturing industry for the 2003-2008 period. The results indicate that the evidence from Turkish manufacturing industries support the Schumpeterian theory. Furthermore, R&D expenditures and R&D personnel intensity are important drivers of patenting activities. This study encompasses the traditional point of view towards innovative activity; however manages to take this view one step further in terms of the econometric technique used.

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