| Frankfurt School

Thematic Area:	SME Banking & Development
Duration:	2018
Client:	European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Region:	Turkey, Caucasus & Central Asia
Country Coverage:	Turkey

EBRD has been planning to strengthen and streamline its approach to support innovation and related policies in Turkey that builds on the experience accumulated through its investments in the corporate sector and policy engagement. According to the European Commission's Innovation Union Scoreboard, Turkey falls within the group of moderate innovators compared to EU average, which underlines the importance of strengthening innovation.

The main objectives of the Project implemented by Frankfurt School were to assist the EBRD (i) to identify potential areas for policy engagement with the Turkish Government, with the objective to promote innovation policies in line with best international experience, and (ii) to define an operational approach to streamline investments in innovation by mid- and large-cap companies across multiple sectors of the Turkish economy.

Frankfurt School and its partner experts carried out the following key activities:

Comparative analysis of Turkey with the United Kingdom, France, Poland and Brazil on the basis of innovation performance, policy measures, innovation initiatives and smart specialisation technologies;
Innovation gap analysis for household appliances (white goods) and automotive sectors, which were based on strategy and adoption of Industry 4.0 related technologies and skills, university-industry collaboration, value-chain integration of R&D (vertical and horizontal), dissemination and spill-over effects across regions and access to finance;
Three sectoral workshops with medium- and large-size companies producing white goods, automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and supplier sectors;
Innovation policy dialogue roadmap for EBRD to strengthen and streamline an approach to support innovation and innovation policies in Turkey;
Benchmarking of Innovation schemes by International Financial Institutions (such as the World Bank and EU);
Operational framework for EBRD to address innovation challenges and gaps;
Development of instruments and eligibility criteria, beyond direct financing, to increase the effectiveness of the proposed innovation financing framework; and,
Contribution in policy dialogue of EBRD with the Turkish government.