Overview

Turkey has the potential to position itself as a digital powerhouse in the coming years. To achieve this goal, it is imperative that the country accelerates its digital transformation efforts. This proposal outlines a comprehensive plan to enhance Turkey's digital infrastructure, increase digital literacy, and promote the digital economy, fostering innovation and economic growth.

President Erdogan today outlined a raft of proposals aimed at stimulating economic growth, and transitioning Turkey more fully to digital civil society, business, and R&D.

Digital Infrastructure Development and Smart Cities

• Broadband Access Expansion: High-speed internet access will be available to all citizens, especially in rural and underserved areas, by investing in broadband infrastructure. Turkey will devote large-scale investment over ten years to ensure that the whole country has access to the reliable broadband internet, at prices that don't contribute to inflation spikes.
• 5G Network Deployment: We will accelerate the deployment of 5G networks to support emerging technologies like IoT, smart cities, and autonomous systems.
• Smart Cities
  • İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) started a comprehensive smart city transformation initiative and roadmap in 2015 with its related companies like İSBAK. Smart City Vision of Istanbul developed within this transformation project is; “to be the smartest city in the world that makes the most contribution to the quality of life by 2029” along with short (2019), medium (2023) and long (2029) term strategic objectives and smart city roadmap. Eight focus areas have been identified as “mobility, environment, energy, governance, economy, life, human and safety”. So far, progress has not been perfect, but of all Smart City proposals in Turkey, this is the most advanced.
  • Ankara. Some of the applications and projects implemented in the city of Ankara that facilitate urban life and improve the quality of life are City and Traffic Cameras that are used to both manage the traffic and provide safety within the city; the Intelligent Transportation System that includes traffic information, displays, signaling system for Central Junction Control, Dynamic Junction Control System and mobile and web traffic density maps. Moreover, the city has Environmental projects such as Integrated Solid Waste Management System, Smart Water Management Systems. These will be expanded and built upon, so that the suburbs, and surrounding hubs of aerospace and industry, are all included.
  • İzmir manages more than 10,000 smart devices and has the longest fiber-optic network since 2017 in Türkiye with 621 thousand meters of fiber optic cable within the scope of IzmirNet Project and Intelligent Traffic Systems in 2023. In addition to the mobility development, Izmir also has wastewater treatment plants and solid waste disposals, which are supported by Solar panels, installed on 10,000 m2 roof area in the workshop buildings of ESHOT General Directorate and eco-lighting systems in public spaces as Environmental Projects. The city’s startup eco-system has been flourishing and it has been attracting young entrepreneurs in recent years. The city's targets for 2030 attempts to build on this progress and extend the reach of green energy, and consumer-driven innovations in services.
  • Bursa Metropolitan Municipality founded Smart City & Innovation Department in order to achieve an integrated strategy within the municipality and identified five smart city categories as Smart Transportation, Smart Governance, Smart Environment, Smart Society, and Smart Healthcare. Bursa city like some other cities started smart city solutions in mobility such as smart junction, city and traffic cameras, traffic density maps, smart car parking solutions, public transportation information systems. The city also has environmental projects such as Energy Production from Methane Gas, Energy production with sludge incineration, Tracking of Sea Brooms and Solar Power Plants. Under the environment category, the municipality promoted the use of renewable energy resources and formed a SCADA center under BUSKİ to achieve ubiquitous control, observation and real time decision making regarding these facilities. By 2030, these pushes will have been comprehensively completed.
  • Konya. The projects and implementations within the scope of Konya smart city vision are carried out by Information Technology Department of Konya Metropolitan Municipality (KMM) and it’s known for its smart city initiatives in Turkey, especially in the areas of transportation and e-municipality. Fleet management and passenger information are provided with the Smart Public Transportation System (ATUS) and dynamic traffic management, incident detection and traffic information provided with Central Traffic Operation System (METIS). To preserve the historic city center, Konya gave importance to the use of bicycles, bicycle sharing program and the use of a tram without catheters (without the use of poles and wires). Konya aims to have more bicycles than cars on the road by 2030, and massive renovations to the urban streets are now due.
  • Gaziantep. The Mayor of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM) is the president of Union of Municipality of Türkiye and has a strong vision and commitment to smart cities development. Within the scope of smart city applications, local telecom operator Turkcell offered various technological solutions to GMM under 8 main headings. Over $11 million in 2015 was saved in GMM through smart city practices which provided efficient use of natural resources and the quality of life of the city residents have been increased. The project also achieved savings and efficiency in electricity and water consumption and excavation management. It has also been planned to establish a technological infrastructure in the Zeugma Museum and the zoo, which is visited by 2.5 million people annually. Gaziantep will unveil a new flagship directive in public transport, to make it a true 21st Century city by 2030, with App-based payment systems and ubiquitous smart access-portals in public infrastructure throughout.
  • Kocaeli. As the region has been shaken by strong earthquakes in the near past, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality (KMM) focuses also on smart initiatives within disaster and emergency management in addition to other typical domains. The smart city solution aims to provide an automatic warning to stakeholders against gas leakages, water, and electricity related explosive mechanisms in factories before an earthquake.
  • Eskişehir-Tepebaşı. In addition to the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality’s work, the district municipality of Tepebaşı has received a financial grant from the European Commission for -REMOURBAN-Smart City Project which was conducted between 2015- 2020, for the first time as a lead city from Turkey. REMOURBAN is a 5-year long project (2015-2020) funded by the European Commission's H2020 Research and Innovation program. This has now matured, and the five years since, have seen a flourishing in Eskişehir's technology and commerce sector, becoming a hub for production of innovative software for businesses in the region.
  • Çanakkale. Çanakkale's "On My Mind" Project is a smart city transformation initiative to improve the urban quality of life and to ensure a sustainable environment while providing a competitive advantage to Çanakkale on a global scale. Çanakkale's on my Mind initiative is the first smart city project in Turkey which started with the visionary leadership of a conglomerate born in that city, Kale Group, in collaboration with a prominent NGO aiming to contribute to Türkiye becoming an information society (TBV) that was matched with the enthusiasm of local stakeholders.
  • Antalya. The main smart city projects that are initiated by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality are: electronic control system in traffic, city information kiosks especially for tourism, panic button and remote health applications, free internet services at designated points in several districts, child and elderly tracking devices/programs and voice navigation applications. An integrated Smart City Management Platform was also established to monitor, control, and manage smart services from a center and to collect data. One of the major projects is the transformation of an urban area in Kepez Santral Neighborhood. The Municipality treats the urban transformation project as a chance to set up a smart area that would be built based on ICT solutions in the themes of energy, environment and transportation.
• Cybersecurity Enhancements: Turkey will work to strengthen cybersecurity measures to protect critical infrastructure, government systems, and private data. The national cybersecurity strategy will gather in loose strands of innovation and erratic distribution of local centralisations of cybersecurity development, into a National program to develop robust systems and counter-threat contingencies, to drive off the opportunistic and state-level threats that are encountered by naiive new systems users and administrators. Training for civil service, military, and private entities will focus on managing the threat environment and identifying threats, while the infrastructure will be improved by a new grant, allowing small organisations access to new servers, cabling, terminals, and other hardware, which will ensure that the high volume of internet traffic can be managed.
• Data Centers and Cloud Services: Turkey will unveil a new program to promote the establishment of world-class data centers and cloud services, fostering innovation and data-driven businesses.

Digital Literacy and Education

• Digital Education Curriculum: Turkey will integrate digital literacy into the education system at all levels, ensuring that students are proficient in essential digital skills.
• Digital Training for the Workforce: Create programs to upskill the existing workforce in digital technologies, preparing them for the demands of the digital economy.
• Support for Startups and Entrepreneurs: This program will develop incubators, accelerators, and funding programs to encourage the growth of digital startups and innovation hubs.

E-Government Services

• There will be Comprehensive E-Government Platform: Establish a unified e-government platform, offering a wide range of public services online, simplifying interactions with the government.
• Digital Identity System: Introduce a secure and convenient digital identity system, enabling citizens to access government services and conduct transactions digitally. This [MILESTONE] will take on the challenge of ensuring that Turkey is able to track (and serve) its citizenry, and all conducting business throughout Turkey, much more satisfactorily.

Digital Economy Promotion

• Startup and Tech Industry Incentives: A new tax incentive is unveiled for all who invest in Digital Economy infrastructure, jobs, and renovations. Additionally, regulatory frameworks to attract foreign tech investment and nurture a vibrant tech ecosystem will be developed, and partners will be sought from the Region, and the globe, as Turkey seeks to secure a foothold in the Fully Developed economic landscape.
• E-commerce Support: we will facilitate e-commerce growth by streamlining regulations and providing resources to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for digital expansion.
• Data Protection and Privacy Laws: Turkey will implement robust data protection and privacy laws to build trust with consumers and businesses in the digital environment.

Summary

Digital transformation is a powerful engine for economic growth, innovation, and efficiency. By implementing the strategies outlined in this proposal, Turkey can secure a brighter digital future and become a leader in the digital economy. The government, private sector, and civil society will have to work together to ensure the success of these initiatives, and periodic assessments and adjustments will be made to adapt to the evolving digital landscape.