Underlining that the information technology sector has “high strategic importance” for the future of the Turkish economy, he said, however, that market awareness of the benefits of information technology is below the desired level in Turkey.
Introducing the association’s goals for the improvement of the sector at a press conference in İstanbul yesterday, the TÜBİSAD head emphasized that information technology, with its significant contribution to employment and productivity, is poised to become the major driving force behind Turkey’s economy in coming years. “TÜBİSAD, representing 95 percent of the Turkish IT sector with around 200 member firms, is committed to increasing the sector’s share and impact in the market by taking the ‘necessary initiatives’.” Gürsoy said a number of commissions recently established by the association would be in close contact with sector representatives, unions and public institutions to this end. He asserted that the IT sector provides the highest added value to the economy.
Drawing further attention to the benefits of information technology for the market, Gürsoy said TÜBİSAD would also concentrate on two other fields, which he identified as the key to further improvement of the sector. “With new projects, we will work to upgrade the current IT services level in the Turkish domestic market to global standards. Another major task is to provide healthy communication and cooperation between related public and private institutions.” These, the TÜBİSAD head stressed, are critical goals that are of the utmost importance for maintaining a healthy information technology market in the country.
Most information technology companies require job applicants to have internationally accepted certification before hiring; however, this places an extra burden on people who seek jobs following university graduation as they have to spend further time and money earning these certificates. Observers argue that this certification should be provided by universities as well. As for the current need for skilled personnel in the information technology sector, Gürsoy told Today’s Zaman that there should be an impetus to fill this gap and that universities could play a significant role to this end. “Universities should place more focus on fields such as self-improvement and certification during undergraduate studies, and TÜBİSAD is ready to cooperate with them in this regard.”
