Regional Innovation Competition Index Relating to University Spin-Off Companies: The Case of Turkish Nuts 1 Regions

Innovation take place among new identifiers of both national and regional growth and competitive atmosphere in the world economy is experiencing radical changes. At this point it is important to reveal the determinants of regional innovation competitiveness. The main purpose of this study is to identify determinants of regional innovation competitiveness relating to university spin-off companies. For this purpose regional innovation competition index of Turkish Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 1 regions have been established on the basis of the key indicators of European Union Regional Innovation Scoreboards 2014. In the study university spin-off companies operating in the Technology Development Zones (TDZs) are selected as samples. Because TDZs have a potential power to create innovations and new technologies. The survey method is used in the data collection phase which include 200 companies. The principal component analysis is used when creating regional innovation competitiveness index.