Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President and B20 Turkey Chair M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that one of the most discussed issues for G20 throughout the year has been sustainable growth and technology’s role to this end. Stating that technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last decade, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Especially in three fields is this apparent: Biotechnology, nanotechnology and informatics. The progress in these three fields is reshaping the world’s economy, as well as enabling workers and institutions to be more productive and efficient. These technological developments are of critical importance in surmounting the problems we encounter in the 21^st century.”

- Health, agriculture and fighting climate change

Stating that these technologies will be most visible in fields with the widest reaching effects such as health, agriculture and fighting climate change, Hisarcıklıoğlu went on:

“In regards to the private sector, production processes and global value chains will be transformed in parallel with these developments. G20 member or not, the future of all countries lies with their ability to adapt to and manage these processes through innovation.

Transformation through technology will continue to be among G20 goals for robust, sustainable and balanced growth. It will have an effect on every issue on G20’s agenda from development employment; from growth to commerce. Especially developing countries should continue to develop their technologies. That is the only way for them to remain competitive and overcome issues regarding healthcare, environment and socioeconomics. Otherwise they face the risk of falling behind. That is why T20 Turkey has adopted technological transformation and innovation as its focal subject.  We want G20 to provide leadership in these matters. We have seen the necessity of this. The G20 mechanism should lead the way for countries who may encounter issues in these matters. It should bring parties together and ensure cooperation.

G20 can be the global mechanism for developing countries to access technology, increase their innovation capacities and achieve sustainable development.

G20’s capacity in the fields of Food security, climate change and healthcare should be utilized.

In order to achieve all of these, G20 must establish a global network of science, technology and innovation as well as ensuring compliance in regards to standardization in thes matters.

- Public and private sector partnership

Models for public and private sector cooperation need to be developed. Public sector’s service and goods acquisition systems should be renewed in order to incentivize technology transfers. G20 should promote funds to finance R&D activities globally in regards to environmental issues and low carbon emissions.

Especially developing markets and countries should be supported with the Greene Climate Fund. This fund would promote the development of biotechnology and form global R&D platforms.

Such a platform would also be able to coordinate the necessary technology solutions to various epidemics which could potentially affect many countries. Additionally, G20 should also focus on the internet and digital commerce necessary for global growth. SMEs must be better integrated into the digital economy. E-commerce usage should become more widespread.

G20 should also take on a leadership role in regards to internet governance. G20 countries should cooperate in the matters of the flow of information, digital rules and regulations as well as the handling of these matters on a global level.

G20, with its experience and expertise can achieve progress in all of these matters. T20 Turkey took the first steps to this end and established dialogue mechanisms. We ensured that, for the first time, innovation would officially feature on G20’s agenda. In this regard, we have launched Innovation-20.

Innovation-20 will work to raise awareness regarding innovation. Especially lacking in developing countries, this mechanism must be focused on. A working mechanism based on new technologies is necessary. G20 Turkey-2015 has taken the first steps to this end with Innovation-20, making it the ideal global mechanism for spreading new technologies and innovation culture to developing markets and large scale adoption.”