Mustafa Varank, Minister of Industry and Technology, Turkey
Nations that nurture an innovation-based culture have enjoyed sustainable wealth and development while transforming the way people live and do business. This shift is possible within a supportive eco-system that includes both government and private-sector incentives. As the main authority to design R&D and innovation policies in Turkey, the Ministry of Industry and Technology gives utmost importance to develop innovation-based strategies, policies and incentives for the sustainability of the ecosystem.
Thanks to the vivid R&D ecosystem that we have built over the years, now we have a well-diversified industry with a well-educated dynamic workforce. Turkey has more than 150 thousand R&D staff, over 1600 R&D and Design Centres, and 85 Technoparks that directly focus on path-breaking business ideas. We also serve as a regional innovation hub for over 100 global companies like Ericsson, Samsung, GE, Siemens, and Renault.
In order to increase the pace of these improvements, we have launched “National Technology Move” as a ground-breaking initiative. This initiative and “2023 Industry and Technology Strategy” will make Turkey one of the world’s biggest economies and strengthen its global competitiveness by increasing technological independence. Furthermore, Turkey has established a strong IP legal framework that provides a healthy ground for innovation to flourish.
Thanks to all these initiatives and strong industrial infrastructure, Turkey has also proved its success in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. As a strong supporter of global solidarity, Turkey also helped more than seventy countries by delivering them medical supplies and we will continue to help our friends and allies to the best of our ability.
We aim to reflect the outputs of all of these efforts to the Global Innovation Index (GII), which is one of the leading references at a global scale. In line with this, we have set up a GII Task Force to further boost innovation and improve our ranking. I am very pleased to state that our collaboration with the WIPO would help to enhance Turkey’s innovation capabilities and create productive outcomes for both sides.