TURKEY

In Southeast Europe, Turkey is the largest economy and shows continual strong growth. From 2003 to 2019, the Turkish economy posted record growth and rose from 18th to 13th globally with a GDP of 761.4 billion USD1. With an average annual GDP growth of 5.1% from 2003 to 2020, Turkey outpaces its peer economies, and such growth is set to continue over the coming years2. Turkey also possesses an advantageous R&D ecosystem, having increased R&D investments within the public budget by over 1% and seeking to rise beyond 2% in the coming years3. This is further supported by Turkey’s well-educated and highly qualified labour force4, competitive cost advantages, and highly active global companies in the country that together form a dynamic ecosystem for R&D. 

Having emerged from the National Broadband Strategy & Action Plan5 and moving towards the new National Smart Cities Strategy & Action Plan6, Turkey is ripe with opportunities for tech solutions providers in many sectors such as telecommunications, 5G provision, e-commerce, fintech, gaming, and AI/DA technologies. The Turkish telecommunications market has almost doubled in the last 5 years to 17 billion USD, with mobile and smartphone penetration at 95.3%, with the government planning to increase it even further7. Similarly, as the world moves towards 5G adoption, Turkey is no exception. In the 5G and beyond white paper, the Turkish government outlines the importance of bolstering its communications technologies first and expanding 5G technologies as an enabler for efficient digitisation across many vertical sectors8. As such, Turkey presents many opportunities for tech solutions providers as it accelerates towards large scale digitisation.