Turkey keen to meet digital transformation challenges

Technological and digital transformations create social and economic changes not only for individuals but also institutions, the head of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) said yesterday.

Speaking at the 6th Microsoft Ankara Technology Summit in the capital, Ankara, Ömer Fatih Sayan said: "Information and communication technologies that develop at an unprecedented pace create changes not only in economic and social life, but also lead to new chances and opportunities for individuals, institutions and states."

He said the world faces "a new industrial revolution," which is Industry 4.0.

The fourth industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0, offers technology and digital-based working conditions, which may have negative effects on the workforce in the near future.

The Industry 4.0 approach is the new production concept of the future and reflects the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. "Industry 4.0 will become an extension of mental capacity," he said.

Sayan added that the symbol of Industry 4.0 would be big data and cloud computing.

He said one of the most important challenges for Turkey while meeting this transformation is to establish infrastructure to meet future potential developments.

"Supporting this infrastructure with domestic and national elements is one of our indispensable conditions," Sayan said.

Addressing the summit, Microsoft Turkey General Manager Murat Kansu said that countries that are part of the digital transformation would succeed, both in economic development and in providing welfare to the people.

Kansu said the tech company has been continuing efforts in Turkey and other countries for the last 25 years to realize this digital transformation. He added 25 percent of the world economy will be digital by 2020, according to research by a consultancy company.