MICROSOFT TURKEY R&D CENTER OPENED

The R&D center, which will operate within Microsoft Turkey, was opened. Center; By bringing together public stakeholders and Turkey's start-up ecosystem, studies will be carried out to reveal the potential of Turkish companies in domestic software and innovation. Noting that the R&D center will contribute to the innovation ecosystem of our country, Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank said, “Our door is always open to all technology companies that want to invest in Turkey. Come, invest in Turkey, let's win together."

The opening of the Microsoft Turkey R&D Center, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, President of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office Dr. Ali Taha Koç, Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa Region President Ralph Haupter and Microsoft Turkey General Manager Levent Özbilgin.

Minister Varank stated that the number of state-supported R&D and design centers has exceeded 1,500 and noted the following in his speech:

CONTRIBUTION TO THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM: We are here for the opening of an important R&D Center that will contribute to the innovation ecosystem of our country. Microsoft has been providing services such as sales, support, product development and localization in our country since 1993. It hosted hundreds of jobs, still continues. It also invests in start-ups from all over the world.

STRATEGIC MOVE: Microsoft made a strategic move in data applications by purchasing Citus Data company, which was founded in Turkey and opened to the world, in recent years. After this acquisition, the Citus Data family expanded with engineers graduated from Turkey's leading universities. These engineers will take responsibility for Microsoft's innovative work, especially in the data field. In the R&D center, studies will be carried out to provide high-performance PostgreSQL service.

IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY: As for every investor - the rising graph of Turkish entrepreneurs and Turkish start-ups - there are also important opportunities for Microsoft. Every day, new initiatives are added to the startups that have reached a billion-dollar valuation in Turkey. We are rapidly moving towards the goal of landing 10 unicorns by 2023. So far, 6 Turkish enterprises have been among the companies that have passed the billion-dollar valuation. After Peak Games, Getir, Dream Games, Hepsiburada and Trendyol, the latest Insider made its name on this list.

THE COUNTRY ATTRACTING THE MOST INVESTMENT: Turkey was promoted to the super league for the first time last year in terms of investments received by start-ups. We became the 10th country that attracts the most investment among European countries. As of the end of 2021, the investments received by start-ups increased 9 times compared to the previous year and reached 1.5 billion dollars. Especially the game industry stands out as the leading actor at this point.

WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES: Our entrepreneurial ecosystem is a world of opportunities. In this context, conditions are favorable for Microsoft, which has shown its trust in our country together with its R&D center, to make new investments. Our door is always open to all technology companies that want to invest in Turkey. Come invest in Turkey, let's win together.

OUR BABY OF THE EYE: The software industry is at the heart of high technology. Today, the software industry is the apple of our eye as well as the developed countries of the world. Now, in every product invented, in every system, software takes the lead. In the coming period, there will not be a single sector that the software does not penetrate.

DYNAMIC POLICY: From artificial intelligence to the internet of things, from cloud technologies to the metaverse, there will always be developments that we call what's next. Especially in the software industry, we take care to implement fast, dynamic and flexible policies.

IT WILL INCREASE ADDED VALUE: The Technology Oriented Industry Move Program is one of our support programs that we have prepared with a dynamic and flexible perspective, which will increase the added value in the fields our country needs. Areas such as digital technologies and mobility, which we called for in the move program, are actually very closely related to software. The results of these calls will be announced by our President.

HUMAN RESOURCES: Increasing adult human resources in the software industry is one of our high priority policy areas. We are taking many concrete steps towards this end. We opened Ekol 42 schools in Istanbul and Kocaeli, which are new generation software schools and where students make high-level progress with the self-learning method.

IT WILL MARK: The upcoming period will be a period in which the success of our human resources will be discussed. Turkish youth, who grew up in Turkey's high-quality infrastructure, will leave their mark on the whole world. This power needs to be constantly strengthened with R&D, innovation, industry and technology. The strong future of our country is hidden in research, development and innovation. We see the future of our country in high technology.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: We know that we will achieve the ideal of a great and powerful Turkey with our breakthroughs in science and technology. We will continue on our way together with everyone who trusts and invests in this country.. Together with investment, production, employment and export, we will carry our country to a strong future with the contribution of R&D.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

President of the Presidential Digital Transformation Office, Dr. Ali Taha Koç stated that they believe that very important projects will be developed at the Microsoft Turkey R&D Center and said, “Now, the life cycle of companies; depends on innovation, R&D and adaptation to innovative technologies. Otherwise, they cannot be competitive and disappear from the stage of history.” said.

PART OF OUR VISION

Ralph Haupter, President of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, said, “Our R&D center investment in Turkey is part of our vision. Our growing team in Turkey has already started R&D studies on strategic issues such as open source.” used the phrases.

OVER 100 ENGINEER EMPLOYMENT TARGET

Microsoft Turkey General Manager Levent Özbilgin stated that more than 100 engineers will be employed in the R&D center, which started to operate with 30 engineers this year.

After the speeches, Minister Varank, President of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office Dr. Ali Taha Koç and Microsoft executives toured Microsoft Turkey's R&D Center.

DOMESTIC SOFTWARE AND INNOVATION

Public stakeholders and Turkey's start-up ecosystem will be brought together within the R&D center, and studies will be carried out to reveal the potential of Turkish companies in domestic software and innovation. The R&D center will focus on open source databases (PostgreSQL), distributed systems that scale on the cloud, and high-performance big data processing.

OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH EXPERTS

Thanks to the R&D center, the talents that Turkey has trained in the field of computer engineering will be offered the opportunity to develop themselves and work with experts at an international level. Deciding to increase its investments in Turkey, Microsoft aims to make Turkey one of the few engineering centers in the world in the long run by realizing its R&D center.