The Impact of Innovation in The Process of High Technology Exports: An Analysis on BRICS Countries

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of innovation on high-tech exports in BRICS countries. For this purpose, in this study, the relations between the R&D expenditures of the relevant countries and the number of patents they have and the export of high-technology are examined for the period of 1999-2018. In the study using panel data techniques, firstly, the existence of cross-section dependence in the series was investigated. Following the determination of the cross-section dependency, the stationarity of the series was investigated by Pesaran (2007) unit root test, which can also be applied in the presence of cross-section dependence. Afterwards, the series, which were found to be non-stationary at level, were made stationary by taking the difference of the series and the relations between the variables were analyzed by panel fixed effects and panel random effects methods. In the outputs of the study, a significant positive relationship was found between the number of patents and high-tech exports in the countries subject to the study. Accordingly, innovation is a highly important factor in the export of high-tech products for BRICS countries, and it is understood that innovation activities should be given importance to create high added value in these countries.