Huawei, a Chinese next generation network solutions company, opened a research and development center in Istanbul's Ümraniye district on Saturday with the participation of Binali Yıldırım, Turkey’s transportation minister, and Gong Xiaosheng, Chinese Ambassador to Turkey.

Delivering a speech during the opening ceremony, Binali Yıldırım said, "Our vision and our aim is to increase the awareness of information technology in the society."

"We aim to increase living standards by turning technology and science into usable products," he said, adding that the IT market in Turkey is currently $30 billion and the main target is to increase the market's volume to $160 billion by 2023.

"The aimed figure is a modest one. In fact, it is expected that this figure will reach to $200 billion," said Yıldırım.

Noting that with this potential growth, Turkey will become an information technology society in the future, he said it is not enough to own the information technology, but it is also a must to use and even produce it.

"That's why we launched this R&D center," he said. "Huawei has 15 R&D centers in different countries. Opening such a center in Turkey is a very important decision and it will also contribute to the growth of the region. This cooperation indicates a bridge between East and West. This will also develop regional and global cooperation."

Highlighting the importance of research and development, he said: "In Turkey, R&D investment projects do not have enough share from GDP. While in 2003 the share of R&D was less than 0.4 percent, today it has increased to 0.8 percent. The main target is to have the same share with European Union countries."

"We will support individual and corporate entrepreneurs for this aim," he said. For R&D, Turkey allocated 0.7 percent from its GDP. "However, we aim to increase this share to 2.5 percent,” Yıldırım said.

Recalling that despite the global recession, information technology sector continued to grow, Yıldırım said the growth in this sector would open the way of growth for other sectors.

Cooperation with China

Speaking during the ceremony, Xiaosheng said Huawei's new investment in Turkey has important meanings. "The new R&D center will be the first investment initiative. We expect other Chinese companies to come to Turkey seeking investment opportunities."

Adding that for Chinese companies, Turkey is the best place to invest, Xiaosheng said: "This new cooperation will be the new Silk Road for us. It will connect East Asia to the West. I think both sides will have great opportunities."

Commenting on the new cooperation between two countries, Jiang Yafei, Huawei Global vice president, said the company aims to invest $50 million for the research and development center, providing employment to 350 Turkish engineers.

The Huawei R&D center will produce new products and services for high technology telecommunication markets, which include added value services and software products.

Today there are 15 Huawei R&D centers in the world and 20 innovation centers. Huwaie invests 10 percent of its profit in R&D, Yafei said.

source:hurriyetdaily