Gul: Turkey needs to work hard to meet 2023 goals

Turkish President Abdullah Gul delivers a speech during the opening session of the 4th World Policy Conference in Vienna, Austria, 9 December 2011. Gul said recently that the country needs to expedite efforts in order to boost research and development investments. |EPA/HERBERT PFARRHOFER

Speaking at the opening of the Turkish Innovation Conference in Istanbul, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the country needs to expedite efforts in order to boost research and development (R&D) investments, to realise the goals in innovation stipulated in the government’s 2023 vision, Zaman reported.

The conference being held for the first time this year was attended by some leading foreign and local figures from the technology industry. The President said that as part of long-term plans, Turkey has set a target to increase the share of R&D investments to 3% of GDP by 2023, the centennial of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. Last year the share of funds allocated from Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) to R&D investments went up to 0.85% from 0.4% in 2003.

According to observers, the “psychological barrier” is the level of 1 % allocation from the GDP to R&D before growth in Turkey’s R&D would accelerate. In the medium run, Turkey is trying to earmark 2% of its GDP for R&D, as seen in many developed countries. Gul stressed that the country is bound to develop its innovation capacity, a major step before the country could minimize its current account deficit (CAD) and increase the competitive power of its entrepreneurs in global markets. He noted that Turkey is lagging behind a desired level of development in R&D but he was pleased to see involvement of more entrepreneurs, scientists and NGOs engaged in R&D studies in Turkey than in the past.

via Gul: Turkey needs to work hard to meet 2023 goals | New Europe.