Mustafa Varank, Minister of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey, said that they will continue to pave the way for the entrepreneurship ecosystem and will make the century of Turkey the century of entrepreneurship. The ‘Turkey Century Summit & Money Talks’ organized by Turkuvaz Media Group continued with the speech of TR Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank. Here are the details…
We will make the century of Turkey the century of entrepreneurship
Emphasizing that we have witnessed periods in which critical developments and new challenges have been experienced at a speed never seen before, Minister Varank said, “Unfortunately, the Russia-Ukraine war that broke out after the immigration problem, climate crisis, coronavirus epidemic still continues. We also follow the developments carefully and put forward different policies with a proactive approach.” Noting that we have to focus on science, technology and innovation, Varank said:
“Look, do you know what the opposition accuses us of? They say, ‘There is no high technology in this country’. They go abroad to see a science center. Today we opened the Özdemir Bayraktar Science Center in Gaziosmanpaşa. There are many workshops from design to mathematics, from astronomy to coding.”
The number of cyber attacks that Turkey blocked in 2022 became clear
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“So far, we have opened seven science centers in Konya, Kocaeli, Kayseri, Bursa, Üsküdar, Elazığ and Antalya. Seven of them are next. In other words, you do not need to go abroad to see the technology you will understand. But if you think of video calling as the latest technology, you cannot know whether there is technology in Turkey or not.”
Turkey is one morethreeok will produce its own technology in the field
Reminding that 20 years ago, research and development in Turkey was only done at a limited level, Minister Varank shared the following information: “The number of technoparks was only two. With the support of over 2.2 billion liras, we increased this figure to 97. Nearly 90 thousand researchers work here. We launched Informatics Valley Istanbul last year, we laid the foundation of Informatics Valley Izmir. We are constantly updating our legislation according to the requirements of the age.
We have expanded remote working opportunities. Today, more than 1,500 companies have their own R&D and Design centers that receive support from us. 81,000 researchers work here. Turkey has now become a brand in the defense industry. Dozens of countries are waiting in line to purchase BAYRAKTAR TB2s. While unmanned aerial vehicles were called HERON in Turkey, songs are now being written under the name of BAYRAKTAR in other countries.
Why was Turkey’s automobile, our 60-year-old dream, made in Turkey’s centennial year and not earlier? Without this political will, TOGG had no chance of success. A youth familiar with technology who knows the trends of the future grows up in the try-and-do technology workshops at Teknofests. The Saint Sancars of the future are growing. Our citizens meet astronomy with science centers and sky observation activities.
Now Turkey can design and manufacture its own unique locomotive engine, its own electric bus, its own air defense missile systems, its own laser detector chips. It sees the direction the world is going and produces its own electric car. When you produce an electric vehicle, you are not actually producing just a device. You are radically transforming the ecosystem. You are involved in the race from the very beginning. Turkey will produce its own technology in many other areas.”
1.7 billion dollars investment in Turkish start-ups
Stating that they recently established the technology and innovation fund, the regional development fund and the informatics valley venture capital fund, Minister Varank continued as follows: “The size of these funds alone has exceeded 1.5 billion liras. We mobilized 2.8 billion liras within the framework of the Tech-InvesTR program, the fund of funds.
So far, 57 startups have received 677 million lira investment from these funds. In the last 4 years, 86 funds of 1.3 billion dollars registered in the capital market have been established. The investment received by Turkish start-ups in 2020 was 154 million dollars. By 2021, this figure has increased more than 10 times to reach $1.6 billion.
In 2022, we reached 1.7 billion dollars. The number of Turkish unicorns increased to 6. Today, Turkey is entering a new phase in entrepreneurship. Our goal is to be among the 20 most developed ecosystems in the world. Again, we set a target of 5 thousand angel investors, 2.5 billion liras of crowdfunding, 5 billion liras of public support, 2.5 billion dollars of venture capital investment, 15 turcorns and 5 decacorns for 2025.
Foreign funds are looking for investments in Turkey. Our business people should also invest in this area. We will continue to pave the way for the entrepreneurship ecosystem. We will make the century of Turkey the century of entrepreneurship.”
They say, ‘Find land, we want to invest’
Minister Varank, emphasizing that they made openings all over Turkey throughout the year, continued his words as follows: “We visit our companies. We are always on the field. Do you know what is the most common demand we hear from our companies these days? Please find us a land, we want to invest. The number of our Organized Industrial Zones has reached 353.
We continue our efforts to establish 33 new OIZs in order to keep up with the demands of the investors. The appetite for investment is pretty good, thank goodness. We broke a record in December incentive certificates. With the 2 thousand 62 incentive certificates we issued, we paved the way for 85 billion liras of fixed investment and 54 thousand employments. Under the guidance of the National Technology Move, localization is one of our most important topics.
With the support decisions we have made so far; We have mobilized a total investment of 50 billion TL, 3.9 billion TL of which is R&D expenditure, for 147 projects. Another issue that we attach importance to as the Ministry is green transformation. We will announce our Green Growth Technology Roadmaps in the iron-steel, aluminum and cement sectors, which are subject to carbon tax regulation, in the first quarter of this year. We support the green transformation process of our OIZs with the World Bank. With a loan budget of 250 million Euros, we will implement advanced wastewater treatment, water recovery, SPP, zero waste, biogas plant projects in different OIZs of Turkey.”
Even the dreams of 6 table can not reach what we do.
Industry Minister Varank concluded his speech as follows: “Turkey was just a market for science, technology and production yesterday. Today, it has become one of the leading centers of science, technology and production. The share of our exports, which is dominated by industrial products, in the global export market is increasing. Turkish industry climbs to the top in world markets.
While the global economy is going through tough times, Turkish industry continues to invest, produce, employ and export. I wish the representatives of the six table were here when we talked about what we did. Because it is obvious that they do not have the slightest information about the policies of our Ministry. In the Memorandum of Understanding, which they announced to the public, they have set as their target everything we have already done.
That’s why we say; Even the dreams of the six table cannot reach what we do. Hopefully, in the century of Turkey, we will reach all our goals and raise our country above the level of contemporary civilizations. We are determined to make the century of Turkey the century of science, digitalization, production and development.”
Turkey Century Summit’What gtriple sponsor deckğı
The main sponsors of the Turkish Century Summit are Aydem Energy, Demirören Holding, Erciyes Holding, Halkbank, Kalyon, Koza Gold Operations, Turkcell, Turkish Airlines, Türk Telekom, Vakıfbank, Ziraat Bankası, Aydınlı, EnerjiSA I EnerjiSA Production, Kuzu Group support sponsors Artaş Group, Cengiz Holding, DAP, Epiaş, Eren Energy, ICA, Northern Marmara Highway, Collection, Papara, Philip Capital, Shell, Suryapı, Torkam Holding, Kargomsende, Tedaş, TEİAŞ, EÜAŞ, Tenmak, TPIC, Turkish Petroleum, Botaş, Botaş International, Eti Maden, TKİ, TC Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Subsidiaries became MTA and MAPEG.