Technology Platforms
Technology Platforms provide mediums for systematic consultation with various stakeholders in S&T and innovation policy. These public-private partnerships have their own management and the platforms’ Executive Boards primarily bring together enterprise managers, faculty administrators and government representatives. The Platforms are expected to support the sectoral dimension of Turkish innovation policy and to this end, hold various meetings and undertake studies to build the R&D and innovation strategy of their sector. Through the match-funds mechanism of ISBAP, platforms’ networking activities are supported. At the implementation stage of the strategy, they are expected to develop pre-competitive research proposals and apply for public R&D support.
Furthermore, the Technology Platforms have already started to function as an interface to which the public bodies refer whenever they need to integrate the business perspective into sectoral policies. To illustrate, the chairs of the Technology Platforms have been invited to partake in SCST meetings, which is the highest-level ranking body in the Turkish S&T and innovation policy system.
Launched in 2007, Technology Platforms aim to enhance the innovation performance of the private (enterprise) sector and to contribute to the implementation of the objectives of Vision 2023. Meetings and workshops were held in order to present the Technology Platform concept and to gather the critical mass in formation of the platforms in the related sectors.
The first five Technology Platforms were established in the sectors that have the highest share of exports in the Turkish economy, namely the automotive, electric and electronics, metal, textiles and maritime technology sectors. The initiative was then extended to three new sectors with the inducement of SCST, namely energy and pharmaceuticals, which have the highest share of imports in the Turkish economy, and agriculture as a sector with strategic importance.
In the leadership of the private sector, the Platforms are a medium where sectoral problems are discussed with the involvement of all related parties. The outcomes of these platforms, such as sectoral research agendas, are to be utilized in conceiving and developing sectoral innovation policies. These national Technology Platforms aim to define long-term research targets, preparing strategic research plans, and to build pathways for the application of the strategic research plans.
