As innovative firms have considerable competitive advantage; more foreign direct investment (FDI) research has been related to the innovation. The primary aim of this study is to explore how intra-regional economies interact with host countries’ innovative performance, and how they are affected by FDI. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, located in the South Caucasus region, are selected as examples. Numbers of patent applications, RD Panel cointegration and Panel OLS models are used for analysis. The results show that FDI is an important variable affecting the level of innovation in the panel analysis. Nevertheless, individual relationships with FDI vary, and cointegration analysis shows heterogeneity. That is, foreign direct investment could play a central role in increasing the level of innovation for Azerbaijan and Georgia, but it is not an important determinant of Turkey's economic innovation level. Countries should realize that when their economies are becoming stronger, FDI is not a useful tool for escalating innovation, rather they should be in clusters that can leverage innovation.

中文翻译：

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外商直接投资对知识产权，专利和研发的影响

由于创新公司具有相当大的竞争优势；越来越多的外国直接投资（FDI）研究与创新有关。这项研究的主要目的是探讨区域内经济如何与东道国的创新绩效互动，以及它们如何受到外国直接投资的影响。以南高加索地区的阿塞拜疆，格鲁吉亚和土耳其为例。分析使用了许多专利申请，RD面板协整和面板OLS模型。结果表明，在面板分析中，外国直接投资是影响创新水平的重要变量。但是，与外国直接投资的个体关系各不相同，协整分析显示出异质性。也就是说，外国直接投资可以在提高阿塞拜疆和格鲁吉亚的创新水平方面发挥中心作用，但这不是土耳其经济创新水平的重要决定因素。各国应该认识到，当经济发展壮大时，外国直接投资并不是提升创新水平的有用工具，而是应该集中在可以利用创新的集群中。