Architects Engineers Group organized the 3rd R&D and Innovation Summit this year, which began in Istanbul.
The R&D and Innovation Summit, held for the 3rd time this year, started with intense participation at the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center. At the opening of the program, attended by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan chaired the session on the first day. Turkish Telekom CEO Paul DOANY, Turkcell General Manager Kaan TERZİOĞLU, and Vodafone General Manager Colman DEEGAN participated as panelists in the session titled “Internet Economy: The Innovative Transformation of the Communications Sector.”
Describing R&D and Innovation as two important tools for development and competitiveness, Deputy Minister Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan said, “The digitalization of almost everything around us has become the most important phenomenon of recent times. Measurements like exabyte and zettabyte, which even those previously in the sector struggled to imagine and often pronounce, have become commonly used terms when discussing digitally produced data worldwide. If development continues this way, we will soon face the exhaustion of the metric system. According to Cisco's estimates, total internet traffic will reach 3.3 zettabytes by 2021. This figure represents a 127-fold increase between 2015-2021. In other words, we are talking about data that could be stored on approximately 700 billion DVDs.”
Emphasizing that we are facing a development speed that challenges even our imagination, Sayan referenced data published by the BTK in his speech: “In the last quarter of 2010, total internet traffic was not even 300 thousand Terabytes, while in the second quarter of 2018, it exceeded 4.1 million Terabytes. All these developments show that this change speed is the most distinguishing feature of the digital age compared to previous periods. For example: It took 75 years for the telephone to reach 50 million users, 38 years for the radio, 13 years for TV, while the internet reached this number in 4 years, Facebook in 3.5 years, and the Angry Birds game in just 35 days. Instagram reached 300 million users in just 4 years, and WhatsApp reached 700 million users in just 6 years.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: This Period Does Not Resemble Anything We Have Experienced Before
Expressing that the emergence of the internet and the connection of people to each other in a way that will change all economic paradigms, Sayan said, “Digital technologies, starting with the internet, have created immense wealth. As economic tools are shared more, more things become free, reach more people, and begin to provide unprecedented benefits to end users. This age marks the beginning of an era that will deeply change how we work, live, and relate to each other. Considering its scale, scope, and complexity, this period will not resemble anything we have experienced before. Therefore, both as individuals and as a country, we must fully grasp the speed and scope of the new era. The connection of billions of people to each other anytime and anywhere via mobile phones, and the unlimited opportunities arising from access to, storage, and processing speeds of data that have reached tremendous levels, will form the foundation of the internet economy,” he stated.
Following the speeches, plaques were presented to Sayan and the CEOs.