The 7th Public Informatics Festival brought together important representatives of the information and communication sector.
The current state of information and communication technology was discussed at the Public Informatics Festival. Speaking at the festival, where significant gains were achieved for the sector, Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, emphasized the importance of digitalization for the public sector.
Stating that the most striking digital transformation is the metaverse, Sayan said, “I want to share an interesting detail with you on this matter. According to a research conducted by GARTNER, a company operating in England, by 2026, approximately 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education, socializing, or entertainment. If we consider that this process will progress cumulatively, it is now an undeniable fact that a new world will quickly engulf us.”
Noting that public institutions serve as examples to society in the digitalization process, Sayan said, “Our informatics managers here are the architects of the digitalization process in the public sector. We are working together to deliver the services we provide to our citizens in the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way. On one hand, we are optimizing our business processes and resources more effectively and efficiently, and on the other hand, we are working to offer services blended with advanced technology for our citizens' use.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Are Working to Accelerate Digital Transformation Even Further
Reminding that the electronic communications sector in the country is experiencing growth and development every passing day with the aim of becoming one of the leading actors in the globalizing world, Sayan stated, “In line with our country's 2023 targets to become one of the world's top 10 economies, it is of great importance to digitalize all sectors with the informatics and technology revolution, thereby achieving a structure with high added value and competitiveness. We are working to accelerate the digital transformation of our entire production infrastructure from software to hardware, from large industrial organizations to small and medium-sized enterprises. Our public and private sectors are strongly involved in our country's digital transformation process. We are evaluating all opportunities to carry our policies even more strongly to the global arena and to participate much more actively in the international arena.”
Emphasizing that the ministry is always a supporter of sector representatives, Sayan said, “I proudly state that we have made very large investments in our country in terms of both fixed, mobile, and satellite infrastructures, and we continue to do so. Last year, we launched our Turksat 5A and 5B satellites into space. Now, our work on the domestic and national Turksat 6A satellite continues. We are among the few countries that have a say in space with our own satellite.” Saying that all these efforts are carried out under the light of our President's National Technology Move, Sayan also touched upon the studies related to 5G.
Drawing attention to the difficult period the world is going through, Sayan said, “Unfortunately, we are experiencing that war has not yet disappeared from the face of the earth and will not disappear in the foreseeable future. We know that countries are resorting to sanctions and measures on various issues. We are witnessing that technology-based sanctions are also coming to the agenda. This once again shows us that the guarantee of a strong and independent future is to be independent in technology and to create domestic and national solutions as much as possible. Everyone here and following us, I know, is working and making great efforts to turn our country into a technology hub and to lead technology revolutions. Our effort is common, our determination and motivation are stronger than yesterday,” he emphasized the domestic and national aspect.
President Karagözoğlu: It Is Almost Impossible to Speak of an Area Without the Use of Information and Communication Technologies
Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, also spoke at the opening of the program. Pointing out the necessity of information and communication technologies to strengthen, Karagözoğlu said, “It is almost impossible to speak of an area without the use of information and communication technologies. Digital services have entered our lives with an even greater momentum during the pandemic process. Especially in this period, we see that internet usage has increased worldwide. In today's world with approximately 8 billion people, there are 4.95 billion internet users, corresponding to 62.5% of the world population.”
Emphasizing the driving force of the pandemic in digitalization, Karagözoğlu said, “Along with this, data usage has also reached the highest levels. With the increase in the number of users, the time spent on the internet, and the number of connected devices, the amount of data generated is also increasing. In 2020, the total amount of digital content produced worldwide (audio, TV, radio, and written content) was 64.2 zettabytes, and it is estimated to reach 181 zettabytes by 2025. In our country, investments continue to increase without slowing down. We see that the sector size grew by 22% in Turkish Lira terms compared to the previous year in 2020, reaching approximately 189 billion TL.”
Stating that “Our dependence on informatics infrastructures to this extent makes it mandatory for us to question well who we entrust our infrastructure to,” Karagözoğlu said in his speech, “Today, when the software we use does not receive a version update, or if you don't install the previous version, it prevents you from installing the new version, our agenda can suddenly change, and we can seek new alternatives. Sometimes, when a software company's product from the other side of the world becomes unusable, we can helplessly seek other alternatives. The most effective way to overcome these negativities is to reach the counterparts of the products we use, either individually or institutionally, as quickly as possible. This also depends on developing the domestic and national product ecosystem in our country.”
President Karagözoğlu: We Have Introduced the Definition of National Communication Product into the Sector's Literature
Underlining that as BTK, they have introduced the definition of national communication product into the sector's literature through regulations, Karagözoğlu said, “Thus, an important step has been taken towards further developing the awareness of domestic and national products in our sector. On the other hand, to eliminate supplier dependency in our sector, ensure supply security, and create a more fair competitive environment in the market, we have set an upper limit of 50% for purchases from a single supplier. When we look at R&D expenditures in our country, we see that it was realized as 54 billion 957 million TL in 2020. At this point, the quality of R&D projects is also of great importance. For the projects conducted by our operators' R&D centers, we have introduced the condition of being compatible with our country's targets and strategies aimed at developing domestically certified or national communication product ecosystems in vertical industries. With this decision, we aimed for R&D projects in our sector to be solution-oriented towards the needs on the path of digitalization for all sectors.”