The KOBİ Training Opening Program was held hosted by Ericsson Turkey.
The “KOBİ Training Opening Program,” organized to highlight the importance of SMEs and shape their future, was held online with intense participation. Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, who participated in the program, touched upon the importance of SMEs in business life.
In his speech, drawing attention to Ericsson's success, Sayan began his remarks by saying, “I find the step taken by Ericsson, which has such a deep-rooted history in Turkey, to integrate our SMEs into technology production as an education center alongside its technology production, to be very valuable.”
Also touching on the importance of information and communication technologies, Sayan shared the figures by stating, “While the size of information and communication technologies shrank by 2.2% globally compared to the previous year in 2020, there was no shrinkage in our country; on the contrary, the sector size grew by 22% in Turkish Lira terms compared to the previous year in 2020, reaching approximately 189 billion TL. In other words, the highest growth in the last 10 years in the ICT sector occurred in 2020. When we look at the figures across all sectors in Turkey, approximately 74% of employment in our country is provided by SMEs. Approximately 65% of the total turnover of businesses in our country is provided by SMEs, while approximately 56% of our total exports is realized by SMEs.”
Emphasizing that SMEs have a large share in national economies today, Sayan said, “As the state, we attach great importance to developing our country's science, technology, and innovation capacity. One of the main axes of our Eleventh Development Plan for the 2019-2023 period is determined as ‘Innovative Production, Stable High Growth.’ Increasing technology and innovation activities with a focus on the private sector and transforming them into benefits, commercializing research outcomes by creating an innovation-based ecosystem, and achieving high competitiveness on a global scale with branded technology-intensive products are among our main targets. In line with our 2023 vision as the Ministry; ‘A Turkey that is competent in science, technology, and innovation, produces, and increases its added value by relying on its own brainpower,’ we continue our work with a human-centered approach that always prioritizes people and values citizens, in line with the spirit of the ‘New Turkey.’”
Also mentioning Ericsson's consistent technology production, Sayan said, “Ericsson's long-term activity in our country creates a historical bond between our country and Ericsson, while this partnership also imposes a historical responsibility. Especially in the last 12-13 years, together with its R&D centers in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, Ericsson exports technology to the world in collaboration with more than 650 employees and our country's engineers today. This also creates significant added value for both Ericsson and our young engineers in the country. Moreover, beyond the obligations for main product suppliers to provide training to a certain number of SMEs arising from the authorizations of our mobile operators, I congratulate Ericsson for the training and knowledge sharing it provided to approximately 30 of our companies this year and to more than 80 SMEs in previous years.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: There Are Companies and Entrepreneurs with Very Good Engineering Skills in Our Country
Reminding that there are companies and entrepreneurs in our country with very good engineering skills and technical knowledge accumulation, Sayan said, “Since identifying problems and being able to talk mutually is the first condition to reach solutions, I believe that by sharing our ideas and suggestions, we will get one step closer to the goal of achieving the best for our country and our sector. All the producers here know very well that progress is impossible without establishing sectoral cooperation. Every producer, including Ericsson, and all our SMEs, definitely outsources part of their products to another producer or uses other producers' products in their own unique products. I want to express that both in this event organized by Ericsson and in the events to be organized thereafter, we need to evaluate these cooperation opportunities well and exist in 5G with strategic partnerships in running steps.”
Sayan concluded his speech by emphasizing how much of domestic and national products can be used in 5G networks is important.
President Karagözoğlu: Technological Developments Offer Important Opportunities for SMEs
Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, also emphasized the importance of the training. Stating that providing an opportunity to contribute to the development of SMEs is quite valuable, Karagözoğlu shared the information that, according to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) constituted 99.8% of the total number of enterprises in 2019. In other words, there are 3.2 million SMEs compared to 7 thousand large companies operating in the industry and services sectors in Turkey. When we look at export and employment figures, I think it would not be wrong to say that SMEs form the backbone of our country's economy. Naturally, supporting activities aimed at increasing the competitiveness of our SMEs is of great importance.”
Also expressing his satisfaction that the trainings focus on 5G and new technologies, Karagözoğlu said, “We also consider the works done with vertical sectors in our 5G studies to be very important. With the participation of relevant stakeholders, we prepared our 5G and Vertical Sectors report and in the subsequent workshops, we brought together our ICT sector with authorized public authorities and companies working in areas such as automotive, health, transportation, education, finance, energy, and media. When we evaluate the specific needs of each sector, the meeting of operators with representatives from different sectors enables the understanding of the sector's needs and the production of solutions accordingly. From this perspective, we see that the works carried out together with relevant stakeholders are very beneficial.”
Touching on the fact that new technologies offer great opportunities for SMEs, Karagözoğlu said, “In this respect, keeping up with technology, closely following developments, and finding technological solutions to customer needs will create important advantages in competition for SMEs. For our SMEs operating in the ICT sector, there are much greater opportunities compared to the past. Now, for companies, it is not the size of capital but the added value produced, the convenience and innovation offered that is important. We see examples of this. We hear about ICT companies that reach significant market value in a short time regardless of their entry capital and experience in the sector. In short, as long as we work diligently and turn our brainpower into products and production.”