There are two technology development zones in the region. Zonguldak Technology Development Zone, which was established in 2017 and whose application for area expansion was approved in 2023, serves in a usage area of 2,030 m² and a residential area of 10,973.15 m². To date, 36 companies have operated in the technopark, 55 R&D projects have been carried out and 25 projects have been successfully completed.
Karabük Technology Development Zone, established in 2017, continues its activities in the technopark building with 1,000 m² of usable area in a total area of 15,023 m2. To date, 48 companies have operated in the technopark, 80 R&D Projects have been carried out and 22 projects have been successfully completed.
There are a total of 43 office areas in the technoparks, and there are 35 companies, 19 of which are in Karabük and 16 in Zonguldak. All 35 companies in technoparks are local, and 23 percent have academic partnerships. 28.6 percent of the companies located in technoparks are incubation companies. In addition, there is Bartın Innovation and Test Center within Bartın OIZ, which has a closed area of 4 thousand m2. There is also a business development center in Zonguldak Central district.
There are three private R&D centers in the region, two in Zonguldak and one in Karabük (Ereğli Iron and Steel Factories, Çanakçılar Seramik, Kardemir Karabük Iron and Steel Factory), and two design centers (Erdemir Mühendislik Yönetimi and Gürmen Giyim Sanayi), one in Zonguldak and one in Karabük. There are 78 employees working in R&D centers in Zonguldak, 20 in Karabük, and 80 employees in design centers in Zonguldak and 18 in Karabük.
According to the Research and Development Activities Research conducted by TÜİK in 2021, the R&D expenditure of the TR81 Level 2 Region is 752,578,883 TL and the R&D human resource is 3,089 people. When these data are compared with Turkey's R&D expenditure and R&D human resources, the region's share in the total is 0.74 percent and 0.86 percent, respectively.
The number of patents received from the Turkish Patent Institute in the Western Black Sea Region between 2017 and 2022 is 47. The number of patents received in Turkey between the same years is 15,735. Only 0.30 percent of the country's total registered patents are located in the region. In this case, it is considered that the number of patents obtained in the region is very low compared to the total number of patents in the country. According to the ranking of the provinces that have received a patent registration certificate for 2022, Zonguldak is ranked 21st, Karabük is 27th and Bartın is 29th.
In addition, projects and activities are carried out by the Western Black Sea Development Agency, in cooperation with universities and technoparks, with the aim of adopting an innovation approach in existing sectors and developing human capital in the field of digital technologies and cyber security by developing entrepreneurship.
