Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Following the “Circular on the Use of Open Source Software in the Public Sector” published in the Official Gazette on July 29, 2023 with the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the final report of the sector workshop held at TOBB on October 3, 2023 was completed and published as a result of the initiatives of the TOBB Türkiye Software Council under the Presidential Digital Transformation Office, which carries out the coordination between the institutions in the transition process.

With the Circular, it is aimed to save significant amounts of IT expenditures by expanding the use of open source software in the public sector, to increase the competitiveness of our country by reducing producer dependency and strengthening cyber security, and to prioritize the replacement of commercially licensed software with open source software, especially those whose license costs are relatively high and whose open source software equivalents are widely used in the relevant field.

- Foreign dependency will decrease

With the workshop organized by the TOBB Türkiye Software Council and the activities to be carried out afterwards, as the domestic software industry, it is aimed to reduce our dependence on foreign software, to identify areas of cooperation with public institutions, to ensure interoperability, to restructure the open source software ecosystem, to support the public sector in the transition process by developing solutions, to develop and grow, to provide new employment opportunities for the software workforce and to make significant contributions to the exports of the sector.

In the Open Source Software Sector Workshop program, which was held with the participation of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office, Public Institutions, Sector Companies, Non-Governmental Organizations, Academicians from Universities and Lawyers who are experts in IT Law, representatives of public institutions also shared their experiences, problems and expectations from the sector regarding the current situation.

The workshop report, which is based on 4 main topics: Opportunities and Sustainability, Ecosystem, Transition, Maturity and Competence, includes evaluations and comprehensive opinions and suggestions on many issues, including the current situation regarding the use of open source software in the public sector, the transition process, the dissemination and promotion of the use of Open Source Code Software, increasing its potential, the current situation of the sector, the road map, opportunities, threats and expectations from the public sector.

Click here to access the report of the Open Source Software Sector Workshop.