Cloud Computing and Data Flow Conference Held at BTK.
The program, organized between Istanbul Bilgi University Institute of Information and Technology Law and the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), was attended by Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, and numerous academics and students.
Stating that they closely follow developments in the field of information and communication technologies, Deputy Minister Sayan said, “The increasing use of technology in daily life has turned into phenomena that define institutions, companies, and individuals in their routine lives. Significant developments are occurring in many areas, particularly big data, machine learning, deep learning, computing power, storage capacity, and cloud services. In a digitalizing world, it is a reality that everything connected to the internet cloud produces data. And this amount of data is increasing exponentially every day. Today, data has become an extremely important resource. It is viewed as a financial commodity like gold or oil. In fact, it would be very apt to use the concept of 'data as the oil of our time.' We can say that cloud computing, which emerged in the 1950s, has been widely used since 2008. Cloud computing has become an indispensable part of the business world, in addition to personal uses.”
Expressing that we use cloud computing without even realizing it, Sayan said, “From the simplest examples, such as sending emails, editing documents over the internet, watching movies or TV, listening to music, playing games, storing photos or other files, we are already benefiting from cloud computing without realizing it. However, the moment it suddenly caught users' attention, like a chain breaking, was with the development of social sharing sites. In addition, cloud computing has taken a priority place in the information policies of large companies and state administrations due to its role in reducing costs in the business world, contributing to the development of e-commerce, and its impact on employment.”
Stating that cloud computing will provide employment to more than 130,000 people in Turkey by 2022, Sayan said, “Especially professions that we will hear about frequently in the near future, such as cloud computing expertise, big data analysis, shared vehicle driving, and autonomous vehicle engineering, will become central to our lives. There is a misconception that cloud technologies render various business areas obsolete. On the contrary, they create new fields and contribute to employment. The sensitive point here is to keep up with the rapidly advancing cloud computing alongside the business world. The new professions entering our lives with cloud computing also impart new skills such as entrepreneurship, flexibility, quick comprehension of topics, understanding, and openness to continuous learning. As you appreciate, 'There is no gain without pain.' Of course, we will encounter some challenges on this path. The most challenging of these is education. It is essential to receive good education to learn new digital skills and adapt to transforming professions.” With these words, he drew attention to the developments in this field.
Deputy Minister Sayan: Wars Are Now Conducted with Technology
Referring to the current era as truly the age of information and technology, Sayan said, “Nowadays, wars are no longer fought with tanks and rifles, but with information and technology. That is why we emphasize the need to advance in technology every time. Our greatest goal while advancing in technology is to achieve domestic and national production. Conducting your work with a technology that does not belong to you and whose details you do not master is like handing the key to your house to a stranger. In other words, you can never be sure of your security. No technology emerges without an intent to benefit. Companies and institutions want the dissemination of a technology for people to benefit from it. Knowing what digital transformation combined with technology in the future can achieve will provide great added value economically. Investing in digital transformation in the short, medium, and long term is a matter of mindset. Today, Industry 4.0 is being discussed worldwide. Japan joined this race by introducing the concept of Society 5.0.” He added: Our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched the “National Technology Initiative,” which aligns with our domestic and national goals. What does this mean? Producing our products with 100% domestic and national means and marketing them worldwide. Only then can no one else open the door to our home. In a recent speech, our esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan uttered the following sentences that we should make our life philosophy: “From data production to security, defense, health, information technologies to artificial intelligence, we must stand on our own feet in every field. Just as we cannot be independent without sovereignty over our lands, we cannot sustain our independence without mastery over technology. We cannot reach our goal until we become a country that not only uses but also designs, develops, and produces technology. If technology is developing very fast, we must move faster than it and work harder.” That is exactly why we will never give up on our passion for domestic and national production on every platform.
Deputy Minister Sayan: As a Nation and Country, We Have the Strength to Compete with the World
Emphasizing that as a country and nation, we have the power to compete with the world, Sayan said, “Especially artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, robotic applications, and cybersecurity will shape the world of the future. Given this, the key factor in succeeding in these areas will be producing in 5G and beyond technologies and transforming this area into benefits. Because 5G and beyond technologies have entered the literature as systems that provide the environment and opportunities for futuristic fields like robotics and artificial intelligence, unlike the first four generations. The contributions of information technologies to countries' development, economy, level of development, and education systems are undeniable. Our country, which aims to be among the top 10 largest economies in the world, must absolutely succeed in information technologies, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, data flow, and communication. Developments in the information technology field affect not only the cloud area but also big data. System solutions utilizing cloud technology are growing rapidly, and affordable hardware is becoming even more widespread.”
Drawing attention to the fact that end-user expectations are increasing every day, Deputy Minister Sayan stated in his speech, “Technological developments are showing exponential growth in meeting expectations. Today, there are 5 billion mobile phones, 2 billion internet users worldwide, and 66 billion sensors in the devices/objects used by these users, with 13 billion security incidents monitored using sensor, video/digital/IT technologies. Many institutions and organizations related to technology attach great importance to this issue and are making very large investments. In the near future, devices with an IoT vision are expected to have more features than smartphones and similar devices, and by 2025, approximately 50 billion smart devices will communicate thanks to IoT technologies, most of which will be used in infrastructure solutions. As I mentioned above, our country continues to benefit from the gains of technological progress in every field. The number of broadband internet subscribers increasing from 3 thousand to nearly 74 million in 16 years, and mobile phone subscribers rising from 23 million to over 80 million, are indicators of this success. Thanks to this, public e-government applications and our private sector have largely digitized their services in their respective fields and achieved this. For example, today the number of e-government users in our country has exceeded 41 million. Fiber line length has reached 345 thousand kilometers, and the subscriber number has become 2.7 million.” He shared these figures.
Deputy Minister Sayan concluded his speech by saying, “According to our forecasts, when cloud computing becomes a concept closely related to artificial intelligence and blockchain, security will gain even more importance. Similarly, with the developments in the open-source field, we will witness much more collaboration in the ecosystem, from infrastructure architectures to partnerships. What falls to us as the government is to identify and shape opportunities in advance and work with all our might to be among the pioneering countries rather than those following technology from behind. We are doing our utmost to provide our stakeholders with a comprehensive roadmap on variables such as the size and potential of the sector, its interaction with other sectors, opportunities, and threats. We continue our activities in close cooperation with the sector to increase R&D investments and efforts for domestic product development and production. Let us not forget that there is no future without dreams. The future is built by those who have dreams. Thank God, we have the human power to realize our country's dreams.”