Turkey launches center for 4th industrial revolution

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has launched the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network to manage digital transformation with the help of international cooperation, the country's industry and technology minister said on Thursday.

Speaking at the online opening ceremony for the center – located in Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial capital – Mustafa Varank said:

"Strong international cooperation is vital for maximizing the competitive advantage of digital transformation.

"Turkey’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network will play a key role in this."

The center will develop policy studies and projects to accelerate digital transformation, especially in the field of industry, in cooperation with public and private institutions, academics, and NGOs, Varank stressed.

Telling how Turkey this January joined the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Network of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Varank said the center is one of only two in Europe and just nine worldwide.

The C4IR Network aims to accelerate scientific and technological research.

Varank said Turkey is set to define the basic principles for the ethical use of artificial intelligence beside carrying out studies on the correct and timely use of industrial data.

Touching on a government-funded fellowship program launched in December 2018, Varank said the country expects to attract at least 100 outstanding researchers with a new call to be issued next year.

"Newly arriving researchers will take part in Turkey's efforts in critical areas that create a difference," he noted.

"We are determined to make Turkey one of the countries that set the trends of the fourth industrial revolution."