The “Domestic and National Technologies Summit” organized by TBD has begun.
The program, hosted by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, was attended by figures such as Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, Rahmi Aktepe, President of the Türkiye Informatics Association, as well as numerous sector representatives.
In his speech, Deputy Minister Sayan from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure emphasized that developing domestic and national technologies is a matter that our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is particularly sensitive about. Sayan stated, “The ‘National Technology Initiative,’ beautifully expressed in terms of its spirit and content by him, is an indispensable guide for us to compete with developed countries. Because importing technology from abroad puts countries in difficulty in terms of economic, security, and sustainability dimensions. However, as Türkiye, after transitioning to the Presidential Government System, we are exploring ways to overcome these challenges more quickly. It has become important to take crucial steps to bring e-government and cybersecurity coordination under the same roof. Thus, the path has been opened for the development of domestic and national innovative technologies and the support of national software.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Must Prioritize R&D to Pull Ahead
Expressing that they are doing their utmost for our country's companies to produce quality products at affordable costs and reach a competitive position with other countries, Sayan said, “As we all know, if we want to pull ahead of other countries in the world, we cannot overlook the need to place great importance on R&D. Without R&D and innovation, countries cannot achieve prosperity and wealth. For example, South Korea, which was behind Türkiye in the 1980s, made a leap in the 2000s, surpassing developed countries in indicators such as R&D personnel per million people and the ratio of R&D expenditures to national income, placing Korea at the top of the world's fastest-growing economies. Developments in R&D and innovation will also advance us a step forward in domestic and national production. This situation will not only reduce imports but also provide significant contributions to our country's economy and companies in terms of exports,” thus explaining the importance of R&D.
Emphasizing that localization efforts will open export doors for us to the fullest, Sayan said, “Our ‘Made in Türkiye’ products will be exported especially to new markets like the Middle East and even to mature Western markets. As the government, we have begun taking serious steps to reduce the current account deficit through both decreasing imports and increasing exports. One of the examples of this is our work on 5G. We need to think of 5G as a mobile technology platform emerging from the concept of connecting people, objects, transportation, health, homes, and cities—everything—in high speed and capacity, everywhere, with minimal interruptions and delays. As another exciting example of recent efforts on domestic and national networks in our country, we can point to the ULAK Project. All hardware and software components of base stations with 4G mobile communication technologies were developed domestically by Turkish engineers using national resources by Aselsan, Netaş, and Argela. The ULAK Project aims to provide next-generation mobile communication infrastructure products with national capabilities. Advancing and strengthening this goal towards 5G and beyond will create a globally competitive new industry. Currently, Türkiye's first domestic and national base station ULAK is also used by Turkcell, Vodafone Türkiye, and Türk Telekom. I separately thank all our friends who brought us together for the purpose of increasing collaborations in the sector towards our country's domestic and national technology initiative,” underscoring the importance they attach to domestic and national production.
BTK President: Producing Technology in Our Country is of Critical Importance
BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu also spoke at the program. Defining their vision as a strong economy, increased competitiveness, and high value-added production, Karagözoğlu said, “We believe that producing technology in our country is of critical importance for tomorrow's Türkiye to be stronger and more competitive. To achieve the goal of developing domestic and national technologies targeted by the 2023 strategy, we invite our producers to domestic and national production and our citizens to use these products. For domestic and national technology to reach a certain level in our country and contribute to our economy, it is essential that we quickly abandon the mindset that imported products are more quality, secure, and durable, and give a chance to our domestic and national technologies and companies. Because the door to our future is the products we produce with our own capabilities. Production is essential to open the door to national power. The efforts in our country over the last 17 years are quite promising. Significant work has been done in many areas from defense industry to telecommunications, from information technologies to communication. The increase in the number of broadband internet subscribers from 3 thousand to nearly 75 million in 17 years, and the mobile phone subscriber count rising from 23 million to over 80 million, are the most concrete indicators of these efforts.”
President Karagözoğlu: We Are Working Overtime to Keep Up with Developing Technology
Karagözoğlu stated, “While world countries are talking about technologies like Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 to get ahead in the technology race, we have joined this race with the ‘National Technology Initiative,’ which is the roadmap drawn by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to achieve the 2023 targets. As BTK, on one hand, we fulfill our regulatory duties towards the electronic communications sector in our country, and on the other hand, as per the duties and responsibilities assigned to us, we are working overtime to catch up with world-standard technology,” providing information about their efforts.
Expressing that BTK is meticulously conducting studies to transition to 5G with other countries in the world using domestic and national capabilities to the highest possible extent, Karagözoğlu said, “First 5G signals have been given in many places, including our country. Tests and trials are being conducted. Operators are finalizing their technology capabilities and business plans. We also broadcast Türkiye's first 5G signals at the 5G Valley Open Test Field established under our Institution's leadership in Ankara. Another study of ours is the establishment of the 5G Valley Open Test Field to provide technology developers with an impartial and free testing-trial area. With the support of our operators Türk Telekom, Turkcell, and Vodafone, we defined the area between ODTÜ, Hacettepe, and Bilkent campuses as Türkiye's priority 5G test-trial field. Developers who want to benefit from the 5G Valley can always contact BTK.”
President Karagözoğlu: All Countries Are Charting Their Own Paths in Cybersecurity
Also touching on how countries ensure their cybersecurity, Karagözoğlu said, “All countries are charting their own paths in terms of cyber defense. This is exactly when we realize how important domestic and national production is. In our country as well, we are taking steps to conduct our own struggle with software like AVCI, AZAD, and KASIRGA, developed entirely with domestic and national capabilities. These software are used not only to prevent end-user grievances but also to effectively detect cyber espionage attacks. Additionally, with the trap systems we use, the detection of attack sources is possible, as well as the analysis of attackers' behavior patterns and details related to attacks.”
Emphasizing that they are acting together with all stakeholders to ensure cybersecurity, Karagözoğlu said, “We are conducting our efforts for all stakeholders to gain the necessary training and experience for this awareness and competence. Activities such as cybersecurity exercises and competitions, specific trainings for capacity building are being carried out under BTK. In this context, our applied cybersecurity training laboratory was established under the FETİH project, providing participants with the opportunity to conduct hands-on cybersecurity tests and develop themselves in this area. With the domestic and national technology initiative, I hope we will all walk together on this path we have embarked on for Türkiye to be a prosperous country,” concluding his remarks.