Knowledge Generation and Innovativeness in Turkish Textile Industry: Comparison of Istanbul and Denizli: Fid-Bau Portal

Knowledge Generation and Innovativeness in Turkish Textile Industry: Comparison of Istanbul and Denizli

Gulcan, Yaprak / Akgungor, Sedef / Kustepeli, Yesim

Regional innovation system (RIS) requires that two subsystems co-exist in a region: The first subsystem is the knowledge exploitation structure of the industrial base (symbolic, synthetic and analytic knowledge bases) [Moodysson, J., Coenen, L. & Asheim, B. (2008) Explaining spatial patterns of innovation: Analytical and synthetic modes of knowledge creation in the Medicon Valley life science cluster, Environment and Planning A, 40(5), pp. 1040-1056]. The second subsystem is the regional supportive infrastructure or knowledge-generating subsystem which consists of firms, educational institutions, knowledge organizations and other similar infrastructural bases in the region. The objective of the paper is to compare two textile-related clusters in Turkey with respect to the strengths and weaknesses of the RIS. The first region is Istanbul with a textile and fashion design cluster, the second region is Denizli which is an example of a traditional export-oriented centre for bathrobe and home textiles. Results of the empirical findings prove that the two regions having different knowledge bases and RISs have different deficiencies in innovative performance even if they are the subsectors of the same sector (textiles).