Turkey to offer direct incentives for R&D operations

ANKARA

Turkey’s volume of direct incentives for research and development projects will be 1.5 billion Turkish lira ($0.57 billion) in 2015, Turkey's Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik said Wednesday.

In a speech during the inauguration ceremony of Germany-based MAN’s new bus production plant in Ankara, Isik said the aim is to transform Turkey into a production and R&D hub.

“We are aiming to increase R&D projects in Turkey,” Isik said. “Our hope is that other companies, like MAN, develop new products in their R&D facilities in Turkey.”

“Hopefully, thanks to our qualified human capital, Turkey will offset its lost years,” he added.

Isik also said that cheap labor costs and land allocation are not the only incentives that encourage investors, adding that the quality of Turkey’s human capital is the main driving force behind MAN’s decision.

Isik added that the automobile industry in Turkey boomed since 2002 thanks to political stability and an environment of confidence, reaching an annual 1.22 million units as of 2014.

“Turkey ranks 17th in the global automobile production (market) according to 2014 figures,” Isik said.

The factory in Ankara is the first facility that MAN establishes outside of Germany. It has a capacity of producing 2,000 units annually.

The new part of the factory established to produce NEOPLAN models will boost the facility’s capacity by 40 percent.