Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, attended the program organized for Turkey Innovation Week.
Speaking at the opening of the program, UAB Deputy Minister Sayan drew attention to the fact that Turkey has made great strides in the last 17 years.
Stating that the pace of change in trade is increasing, Sayan said, "We need new ideas and the ability to bring them to life. We must read the direction of the world, markets, and technology well and create added value through innovation. Being open to innovations, producing at universal standards without losing our local and national perspective will continue to be the key to our success. As Turkey, our goals are big. Among them are entering the world's top 10 economies, increasing our annual gross domestic product to 2 trillion dollars, and achieving 500 billion dollars in exports. Undoubtedly, many developments and components are needed to reach these goals. However, having a developed transportation and communication infrastructure is of great importance for a successful business environment and a vibrant economy. In this regard, we have great success stories as a country. We have a brand like Turkish Airlines (THY). We have our New Istanbul Airport, which will make significant contributions to our economy and trade. We have our domestic and national base station Ulak."
Deputy Minister Sayan: Technology is One of the Most Dynamic Concepts of Our Time
Emphasizing that Turkey is the 4th country to produce a hybrid locomotive prototype that operates on diesel and battery, Sayan said, "In the areas of innovation, production, branding, and marketing, both the public and private sectors have made great strides in the last 17 years to achieve these goals. In the last 2 years, more data has been produced than in all of human history. As the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and our government, we continue our efforts to keep this produced data in Turkey. The concepts and applications that form the technological revolution permeate our entire lives, and digital transformation, which has become a reality of our age, often surrounds us without us even realizing it."
Stating that the basic philosophy of technology is built on the idea of transformation, Sayan said, "This transformation naturally requires making long-term plans and determining strategies. We must increase our strength in this regard by emphasizing digitalization, innovation, and R&D activities. New trends in technology and innovation come like surf waves. We need to determine well where and when to stop this surf wave. If we miss the surf wave, no matter how hard we try, reaching the shore and success takes longer. Thank God, today our opportunities are much better compared to the past. Our economy, qualified human resources, entrepreneurship, industry, and universities are much stronger. Most importantly, we have a leader who has set independence as a goal in every field. Economy, health, tourism, entertainment, banking, trade. In short, we see the effects of digitalization in all areas we can think of."
Touching on topics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning which refers to learning machines, the Internet of Things (IoT), and 3D printers becoming the most important parts of life, Sayan said, "Smart cities are an important part of our lives as a ministry. We attach importance to its development. In this scope, we continue to work in all transportation of our country with the vision of being an institution that provides safe transportation and fast access. A real success story has been written with our divided road infrastructure exceeding 26 thousand kilometers. In the upcoming period, we will spur the success story with intelligent transportation systems."
Deputy Minister Sayan: Broadband Fiber Internet to Every Home
Stating that they will provide broadband fiber internet to every home in the next 3 years, Sayan said, "We attach great importance to infrastructure in this regard. It is our duty to create the necessary infrastructure environment for you. As the ministry, we continue our work to increase communication opportunities with domestic and national infrastructure in the communication field. With our 4.5G authorization, operators paid 4 billion euros in license fees to the treasury. They need to achieve 30%, 40%, and 45% domestic ratios in infrastructure. Transportation and communication will benefit us not only with their own progress but also with a multiplier effect in vertical sectors such as education, health, and trade."