R&D AND DESIGN CENTERS AND TECHNOLOGY REGIONS SUMMIT

R&D and Design Centers and Technology Zones Summit was held in Informatics Valley, Turkey's informatics and innovation hub. At the summit, a total of 42 awards, including 30 in 10 categories for R&D and Design Centers and 12 in 4 categories for Technoparks, found their owners. Speaking at the summit, attended by the chairman and members of the Parliamentary Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Commission, Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank said, "We will achieve much better with our bright young people and TEKNOFEST generation, despite those who pump despair." said. Organized for the 8th time this year by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the summit brought together important actors of the R&D and innovation ecosystem, especially R&D and design centers and technology development zones. Successful regions and centers were awarded in various categories in the event, which attracted great interest from public institutions and the private sector. Kocaeli Governor Seddar Yavuz, Chairman of the Parliamentary Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Commission Ziya Altunyaldız, President of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office Ali Taha Koç, members of the Parliamentary Industry, Commerce, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Commission Fahri Çakır, Ahmet Çolakoğlu, Osman Boyraz, Fuat Köktaş, Selma Kaplan Kıvırcık, Tahsin Tarhan, Abdurrahman Chairman and Ayhan Altıntaş attended. Kocaeli MPs Cemil Yaman, İlyas Şeker and Radiye Sezer Katırcıoğlu also attended the meeting. Making a speech at the ceremony, Minister of Industry and Technology Varank said in summary: BAŞ TACI: We see that global competition has moved to a much different dimension with the pandemic and climate change. This makes R&D and innovation activities, which are the pioneers of technological developments, more important than ever. We are aware of this and we place R&D and innovation as the top priority in all our work. HEART OF ENTERPRISES: With the support we provided, we increased the number of Technology Development Zones from only 5 to 89. Technoparks became the heart of innovative and technology-based entrepreneurship in our country. At the point we have reached today, Technoparks; It has turned into regions where national and international investors make serious investments, millions of dollars of exports are realized, and critical projects are carried out in strategic areas such as artificial intelligence, health and drone technologies. INCREASED BY 20 PERCENT: Along with Technoparks, R&D and Design Centers are another important factor that feeds our innovation ecosystem. The number of these structures, which started for the first time in our period, is over 1,600 today. Last year, R&D expenditures increased by 20 percent compared to the previous year and reached 55 Billion Liras under the leadership of the private sector. During the period of our governments, the ratio of R&D expenditures to national income increased from 5 per thousand to 1.09 percent. R&D employment increased 6 times and reached 200 thousand, and the number of domestic patents increased 20 times to 8 thousand 200. PRODUCTION BASE, NOT MARKET: With the vision of the National Technology Move, we invest in the right areas at the right time. Our companies carry out serious studies in digital transformation, green transformation, artificial intelligence, electric and autonomous vehicles and even flying cars. In digital transformation, we provide large-scale support to our businesses in order to make our country a production base, not a market for critical technologies. MAKES A VOICE IN THE WORLD: We accelerated our actions in the green transformation within the framework of harmonization with the EU Green Agreement. We provide significant support for R&D and innovation in green transformation through TÜBİTAK. We have published the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy together with the Digital Transformation Office for the correct governance of artificial intelligence. TOGG, which is one of our hundreds of trends in electric and autonomous vehicles, is fast approaching the days when it will come off the mass production line. Although some do not want to admit it, our country carries out works that make an impression on the world thanks to its technology-based initiatives. FLAME CARTRIDGE: The number of start-ups, or unicorns, as we call it, turcorns in Turkey, which has reached a valuation of billions of dollars, has reached 5. One of these unicorns came out of tech development zones. Three of them have their own R&D Center. Of course, these are just flares. You will see, by Allah's leave, we will witness more rapid developments from now on. As the experience of our innovation ecosystem increases, the competitive position of our country will become stronger. WE MUST ALSO CATCH THE QUALITY ARCHITECTURE: Thanks to the industry and technology ecosystem that some insistently try to ignore, our country has been achieving a serious growth based on production and investment for the last four quarters. When we look at exports, we can see the same success again. Our 12-month exports reached 215 billion dollars. Along with the increase in quantity in exports, we have to catch up with the increase in quality. Frankly, we see you, our valuable stakeholders, as the dynamo of quality improvement. Increasing the share of medium high and high technology in our exports is due to the success you will achieve in research and development.