Development of Defence Capability from an Innovation Perspective: The Case of Turkey

In this study, the case of Turkey from a defence capability perspective has been assessed with respect to the European Union Countries by using innovation indicators. Fourteen innovation indicators from year 2008 of the European Innovation Scorecard 2008 Report constituted a base for the current study. Based on these data, the situation of Turkey regarding the innovation indicators was posited by employing multi-dimensional scaling analysis (MDSA) and K-means cluster analysis. Based on the k-means cluster analysis, Turkey is in the same cluster as in Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia. The MDSA showed that the innovation performance of Turkey is in the category of ?Catching-up Countries?. Several policy recommendations have been given at the end of the study to increase the defence capability of Turkey from innovation indicators perspective.