Innovation Process and a Model for HighTech Companies within an Industrial District

High-tech companies innovate through complicated and dynamic interactions with other shareholders willing to form a “Technology Innovation System.” There is extensive literature on the formation of such systems; however, most such studies have not considered their dynamic features, R&D intensity, and other factors. Innovation dynamics should be framed upon the activities of R&D for technological development and then transferred into commercial economic values. This work aims to develop a model to improve the understanding of the dynamic behavior of high-tech companies within an industrial district in İstanbul, Turkey. This research outlines innovative approaches along with other features such as R&D intensity within the companies, the availability of scientific and technological personnel, the collaboration with scientific organizations, and initiatives in intellectual property rights. Extended interviews were conducted with the upper management of 8 high-technology companies using a structured and in-depth interviewing technique. As a result, based on specific indicators and scoring data, this study reveals the importance of a “technology innovation system” within such an industrial district for high-tech companies for the company's business processes and indirectly within the company's management approach. This research outlines innovation systems along with other features such as R&D intensity, the availability of scientific and technological personnel, and their involvement through scientific research collaborations.