Information Technologies and Communication Authority President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu spoke at the opening ceremony of the “TBD Public – BİB’25 and BIMY’29 Integrated Event” hosted by the Turkish Informatics Association. Karagözoğlu discussed the importance of digitalization.
Organized by TBD this year under the theme “Digital Future and Beyond,” the “TBD Public – BİB’25 and BIMY’29 Integrated Event” brought together prominent figures from the technology world. BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, who attended the opening of the program, stated that the questions “What Awaits Us in the Digital Future?” and “What is Our Duty for the Digital Future?” and the answers to be given to them will shape our future. President Karagözoğlu emphasized the importance of digitalization in today's world by saying, “With today's technological developments and the increase in internet usage, people's expectations from public services are also changing and transforming. While the number of global Internet users has exceeded 5 billion, mobile internet subscriptions have reached 80% of the world's population.”
Karagözoğlu said that internet usage increased in our world and country during the pandemic period, and according to the World Economic Forum, digital transformation will reach 100 trillion dollars in the next 10 years in social and economic terms.
Talking about the importance of machines in the digital age, Karagözoğlu said, “When measuring countries' adaptation to this age, not only the number of internet subscribers or mobile users is looked at; how much the industry has digitalized, how smart the cities, homes, and infrastructure systems are has become an important indicator. In this sense, we are closely monitoring the number of machine-to-machine (M2M) subscribers.”
Noting that the digital change rates in Turkey are above the world average, Karagözoğlu stated that thanks to the investments made, they have the power to support all these developments on land, sea, air, and in space.
Also mentioning BTK's work on the country's communication infrastructure, Karagözoğlu said, “The length of fiber infrastructure in our country has exceeded 488 thousand Km. In the last 7 years, we have almost doubled our fiber infrastructure. This development in our fiber infrastructure also makes a significant contribution to the increase in internet speeds and the amount of data used.”
Reminding the importance of trained human resources in the technological field for countries, Karagözoğlu shared the information that “BTK Academy under our Institution delivers trainings in the field of technology to every corner of our country to increase digital skills, and our registered user count has exceeded 1 million.”
President Karagözoğlu: We Have Started Preparing for 6G Technology Already
The 5G topic was also on Karagözoğlu's agenda. Stating that alongside the great opportunities offered by 5G technology, there are also potential risks, Karagözoğlu said, “Under the leadership of our Ministry and BTK, ensuring the transition to 5G with our own secure infrastructure using domestic and national products as much as possible and transferring our knowledge to next-generation communication technologies constitutes our primary goal.” President Karagözoğlu gave the good news that they have started preparing for 6G technology already.
Stating that while digitalization makes our lives easier, digital technology also brings different risks to our lives, Karagözoğlu said, “With the digitalization of social and economic life, cybersecurity has become a part of national security and a major factor affecting the welfare of nations, and our greatest strength in this struggle is the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM) and the sectoral formations SOME in our country. While the number of SOMEs has exceeded 2,100, the number of experts registered on these platforms is approaching 6,500.” He continued his speech with drills organized in this context and evaluated the number of participants in terms of sector development.
President Karagözoğlu concluded his speech by narrating our country's success in cybersecurity with figures.
The event where all stakeholders from the public, universities, and
private sector in the informatics field come together will continue for three days.