Minister calls on tech giants to open R&D centers in Turkey

SAN FRANCISCO - Anadolu Agency

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Turkish Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Fikri Işık has called on U.S.-based technology giants to establish research and development centers in Turkey and not to see the country only as a customer.

Işık, who started his visit to the U.S. on March 17, visited Silicon Valley giants HP, Oracle, Intel, Apple, Cisco and Google.

After a meeting with Turkish businessmen, entrepreneurs and engineers on March 19, he told Anadolu Agency that the example of the Silicon Valley is very important.

“A decision has been made to support Turkish entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, to make technology transfers and to establish a [technology] center in order to gain access to the world market,” Işık said.
In recent years, Turkey has made public plans to establish a “Silicon Valley” technology center in Istanbul, the country’s largest city and economic capital.

Işık said the Turkish delegation would hold a series of meetings in the U.S. with regard to establishing the technology center in Istanbul.

He also said Ankara would first hire “science attachés” in Berlin, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco.