The "Looking to the Future with TÜBİTAK Towards 2023" Workshop was held at TÜBİTAK TÜSSİDE Conference Hall. Faruk Özlü, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, who attended the workshop, said in his opening speech that all of TÜBİTAK's know-how will be mobilized for the 'technology breakthrough' that will take us to our 2023 targets. Stating that TÜBİTAK is one of the most important institutions that everyone should cherish and hold in high esteem, Minister Özlü said that they need to transform TÜBİTAK into an even more functional institution that adds strength to Turkey's power, opens its doors wide open to scientists and researchers, and offers hope to countless young people with the scholarships and incentives it provides. Özlü stated that they have put the restructuring of TUBITAK on the agenda according to changing conditions, demands and needs, and said, "We will mobilize all of TUBITAK's experience for the 'technology breakthrough' that will take us to our 2023 targets. While doing all this, we will preserve TÜBİTAK's autonomous structure.

We will design TÜBİTAK as the most fundamental stakeholder of all R&D projects of public institutions. TÜBİTAK will be the first address of R&D, researchers and scientists." Minister Özlü stated that they are going through a process in which the 4th Industrial Revolution is radically transforming technology, science, industry, production and marketing, and emphasized that they do not have the luxury of making excuses in the face of the new industrial revolution. Stating that they expect a lot from TÜBİTAK as a country and nation in this process, Özlü said: "Of course, we have great expectations not only from TÜBİTAK, but also from universities, technology development zones and the private sector, because we know that the most important instrument that will carry us into the future is science and technology.
A technology disconnected from science and an industry disconnected from technology are unthinkable.
All our efforts are to ensure that all these concepts understand and support each other and meet around the same goal. It is essential that the knowledge produced at the university is transformed into technology, and that the technology produced is commercialized. Therefore, knowledge that does not turn into a product is thrown away."

"Our motto will be 24/7 science, 24/7 technology"

Özlü stated that Turkey is a country with great goals and ideals, and for this reason, they cannot throw away the knowledge that forms the basis of all kinds of power, and said: "We do not have such a preference, such a luxury, we do not have the luxury to be lazy, to take our time, we cannot have such a luxury. Especially in science and technology, we have to act quickly, act fast and make result-oriented moves because we all know that science does not forgive laziness. Scientific production and technological development cannot have a weekend vacation.
For this reason, we will reject the notion of scientific work limited to working hours. Our motto will be 24/7 science, 24/7 technology. We will embrace the understanding of less bureaucracy, more science with all our hands." Stating that they have started to reap the fruits of the science, technology and industrial policies they have been advocating since the beginning, Özlü said that they have reached the targets they set for R&D centers, design centers and technology development zones. Özlü said, "Today, there are 1,37 R&D and design centers and 76 technology development zones in our country. We will continue to provide extremely generous incentives to our R&D and design centers, technology development zones and science centers."

"R&D and innovation is the brain of industry"

Özlü emphasized that R&D and innovation are the brains of the industry and that the most important indicator of competitiveness in international markets today is R&D investments, and said, "Many companies that have a say in the world allocate between 5 and 15 percent of their sales revenues to R&D expenditures. Therefore, we cannot escape from R&D, design and innovation. On the contrary, we have to embrace all these concepts. Turkey has the potential to close its foreign trade deficit with more R&D, more innovation, more design and more branding. We will increase our R&D and innovation investments and bring them up to world standards. We will never stop investing in technology, informatics, software, R&D, innovation and design." Underlining that science, the state and the private sector should act as strategic partners, Minister Özlü stated that the "Looking to the Future with TÜBİTAK towards 2023" workshop will strengthen this strategic partnership.

TÜBİTAK President Prof. Mandal: "There is a Need for Qualified Knowledge and Qualified People"

Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, President of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), made a presentation on "TÜBİTAK in the Science, Technology and Innovation Ecosystem" at the Workshop. Prof. Mandal emphasized the importance of TÜBİTAK for Turkey and said that evaluations will be made to ensure that TÜBİTAK contributes better to the 2023 targets. In Turkey

Stating that there are 37 R&D and design centers, 76 technology development zones and 185 universities, Prof. Dr. Mandal said: "When we look at the number of full-time equivalent researchers, there is a nearly two-fold increase from 2006 to 2016. Again, our share in the private sector has increased from 33 to 52. When this is evaluated, we seem to have aspects that are open to improvement in terms of the countries we compete with. 52 percent is a good development when we look at the number of full-time equivalent researchers in the industry."

Explaining that they increased 2.1 times in scientific publications between 2006 and 2016, Prof. Dr. Mandal said, "We have a 4-fold increase in the number of patents. In the world ranking, we rank 18th in publications and 21st in patents, but when you relate this to the population, our 18th place is evaluated at 53. Again, our 21st ranking is in the 40s in patents, again we see that we are open to improvement here." Prof. Dr. Mandal talked about TÜBİTAK's support programs and stated that Turkey has moved up a class in innovation. Describing the developments in R&D, technology development and innovation in Turkey, Prof. Dr. Mandal said: "Turkey was in the 4th league for many years. It has now moved to the 3rd league, but is this a good achievement? Yes, it is a good success, an important success, but when our place in the process is evaluated, we have moved from orange to yellow. There is still a way to go in a way befitting Turkey. Turkey is still a country where investment comes from, this is an incentive factor, and its supporters are higher education, human resources, the level of R&D produced, the level of high-tech products, and the suitability of business structures for this are aspects that are open to improvement, because while our 14th market size is trying to pull us upwards, human resources, the R&D level of our universities, whether the R&D quality is in high technology, these are the trends that pulled us in the opposite direction in the 50-60s." Stating that specialization is being talked about all over the world, Prof. Dr. Mandal said, "There is a need for qualified knowledge and qualified people. Let's produce knowledge and develop human resources. The key words for this are qualified knowledge and qualified people. We believe that this can only be achieved by working as a whole in the chain of basic research, technology development and commercialization. It is a difficult process, it is very easy to manage them independently, and when we manage them in an integrated manner, we will have transformed from an input-based approach to an output-based approach. When we look at international R&D projects, rather than going to every country in every field, we think that there may be support programs for more specialization in some countries, strategic cooperation with countries that are the same as us or better than us, but also for increasing our communication and interaction with developing geographies within the scope of our country's macro goals. Especially in the Middle East, African countries and underdeveloped countries."

The workshop continued with the sections "Situation assessment of TÜBİTAK's current support and services" and "Suggestions for TÜBİTAK's future programs and processes".