ANKARA
Turkey needs to create its own ‘innovative ecosystem’ in a digital driven economy in order to face future challenges, the Secretary General on EU Innovation Policy Management said on Tuesday.
Prof. Stefan Schepers spoke at a conference in Ankara, organized by healthcare company Bayer, entitled “Innovation and competitiveness through interaction of business and government," and said that there is an "increasing pressure on governments and businesses to create a common strategy that will include each others’ tangibles such as public value, social acceptance, regulations and environment."
Schepers identified the solution for emerging countries, such as Turkey, through the creation of an “innovative ecosystem.” He said that ecosystem "should be based on an open and transparent interaction between business, civic society, governments and academia." He added that in order to maintain a high level welfare system, sustainable competitiveness is needed along with the capability of all stakeholders’ to permanently innovate.
Schepers also cited the example of an emerging economy in the eighties, South Korea, which put in place an innovative ecosystem and thrived. "South Korea has already surpassed Turkey with its gross domestic products (GDP). In 1980s, Turkey's GDP was larger than South Korea, but in 2013, Turkey's GDP remains at around $800 billion and South Korea at $1.15 trillion. "The important question here is how has South Korea become successful in its innovative ecosystem and what went wrong with Turkey?"
“Science education is the key for the future of Turkey”
Dr. Axel Hamann, Bayer Turk CEO, emphasised the importance of science education for the future development of Turkey.
“This is why Bayer’s social projects in Turkey are focused on science and education. We have developed two special social projects for our 60th year. The first one is called “Science Seeds Team” which is an extension of our successfully ongoing Bayer Young Science Ambassadors project. Our second project is “Bayer High Schools Science Competition”.
"As this year is the German-Turkish Year of Research, Education and Innovation 2014, we will organize both of these projects in collaboration with German and Turkish ministries,” he said.
www.aa.com.tr/en
