The Akdeniz Informatics Summit is the largest in the region in its field has started. The leading names of the It sector, especially the Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Mr. Kacır, and TAI General Manager Mr. Kotil met with the students.

The 6th Akdeniz Informatics Summit, which is the highest participating and national event in the IT world, was held this year. The summit, organized by Akdeniz University Antalya Technopark, started on Friday, October 14, 2022, at Kepez Mimar Sinan Congress Center with opening speeches. Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, TAI General Manager Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil, General Manager of R&D Incentives M. Bilal Macit, Antalya Deputy Governor Yalçın Sezgin, Akdeniz University Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Murat Turhan, Prof. Dr. Gülbin Arıcı, Secretary General Ali Evren İmre, General Manager of Antalya Technopark Dr. İbrahim Yavuz, sector representatives, academicians, and many students from 25 universities attended.

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MAKING CHANGES ALL OVER THE WORLD

Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır started his speech by saying that Turkey's young and dynamic population is the biggest dynamic force for the National Technology Move. “The average age of the Turkish population is 32. Young people are making changes all over the world. There will be countries all over the world with young people who have a force multiplier. We act on the belief that our young people will do the best jobs in the world if we can open the barriers to young people.” he said. “While our defense industry exports were 300 million dollars at the beginning of the 2000s, they reached an enormous figure of 4.5 billion dollars in 2022. In the development of the information and communication technologies market in Turkey, the annual growth rate was 23 percent. Our information technology software export has reached a growth rate of 14 percent. Turkey allocates a large to R&D.” he made his statements.

THE WORLD IS TALKING ABOUT OUR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

In Kacır's words, “For national sovereignty and full independence, nationalization in the defense industry is not enough, it is a priority in agriculture, energy, and all sectors. Ensuring that Turkey's full independence in critical technologies is the core of the national technology move. The defense industry is the foremost. You cannot survive in this world if you depend on other people's planes, helicopters, cannons, tanks, and ships. The share of imported products has fallen from 80 percent to 20 percent. The use of domestic products has increased from 20 percent to 80 percent. The world is talking about our unmanned aerial vehicles. Because Turkish AUAVs changed the war paradigm. It is not just our AUAVs, of course. We have made a nationalization breakthrough in all layers of the defense industry in the air, on land, in the sea, and space.”

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT IS CRUCIAL FOR CRITICAL GOALS

Pointing out that the defense industry alone is enough for national sovereignty and full independence, and the importance of nationalization in agriculture, energy, and all sectors, Kacır said, “Software development is crucial to critical goals. Our number of software developers is 200 thousand. We need to increase them. There are 700-900 thousand software developers in Europe. We have to step up on this road. Technology brings paradigm change in every field. Capturing these changes makes us stand out. Focusing on these changes and turning to the fields of the future brought great gains to Turkey. We export drones to more than 20 countries. This was possible to recognize the paradigm change in this technology and direct the resources correctly. Turkey will take a new era in the national combat aircraft with the ‘Red Apple'. Next year, the Red Apple will fly, and TOGG will be on the road.”

WE HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR SOFTWARE FROM ANTALYA

Inviting the participants to work in the fields that operate in the field of national defense, TAI General Manager Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil said, “This is a computer with 8 kb memory that I bought for $250 in 1985 in the USA. I earned 2 grand on my project with this computer. Now, the memories of the phones in people's pockets are much stronger than my first computer. If I made 2 grand with this computer, you should make millions. Antalya or Turkey has no problem with IT and software. Software means dedication, and solving the problem in the head. Cluster with your friends in Antalya on software. TAI has huge expectations for software from Antalya.” Talking about TAI's goals, Kotil stated that TAI is currently making a turnover of 2 billion and is targeting a turnover of 10 billion in 2028.”

WE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ANTALYA TECHNOPARK AS THE MINISTRY

Thanking the participants who organized the program, R&D Incentives General Manager M. Bilal Macit said, “We have more than 90 technoparks in Turkey. Antalya is very important to us because Antalya Technopark is in 8th place right now. I believe that it will be ahead with these works. I would like to point out that we, the ministry, will support Antalya Teknokent in all investments.”

EVERY CORNER OF THE MEDITERRANEAN IS A SILICONE VALLEY FOR US

Antalya Technopark General Manager Dr. İbrahim Yavuz started his speech by giving information about Antalya Technopark. He stated that the summit made a great contribution to the region and the informatics ecosystem. Giving information about the summit theme 'Digital Age', Yavuz said, “When we say Antalya, tourism, agriculture, and beauty come to mind. We are setting up the agricultural technopark. We are also ambitious. Antalya is an ecosystem in informatics, technology, and innovation. Every corner of the Western Mediterranean is a Silicon Valley, a valley of informatics for us. We built the first building of our important project, Antalya Teknopark Technology Valley. We opened this building in March, this building is the mental start of the transformation for Antalya, our children will be software developers here. As soon as TAI arrived, it became the center of the Antalya defense industry. We produce domestic UAV, AUAV, domestic vehicle, and domestic National Combat Aircraft. We are trying to get 07 Antalya on the wing of the National Combat Aircraft. We took the word of our master Temel Kotil. We will do that too.” Yavuz thanked everyone who contributed to the organization of the summit.

LEADING NAMES OF THE IT WORLD PARTICIPATE

In the award ceremony held after the opening speeches, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Turhan presented a plaque to speakers Deputy Minister Kacır and TAI General Manager Kotil. In the afternoon program, in addition to the panel titled "Digital Transformation in the Digital Age" and "Angel Investment in Digital Entrepreneurship", current issues were discussed with the leading names of the sector. In the panel titled “Digital Transformation in the Digital Age”, Olbia Information Technologies CEO Yakup Küçüksaraç was the moderator, the speakers were Product Development Manager Kadir Hacıahmetoğlu at CW Energy, Public Relations and Project Director Tolga Gören at Logo Software, Tech Data-Dell Sales Manager Nüket Ergün, Citrix Systems-Senior Partner Account Manager Cem Öcal have provided participants with the information on their companies' organizations and future visions.