Erdoğan unveils bid to boost Türkiye’s tech researchers

ANKARA

Türkiye is launching a program to train hundreds of doctoral students in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, chip technologies and advanced computing, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Aug. 20.

“In strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, chip technologies and advanced computer systems, we will initially select 550 doctoral students through a centralized examination and train them at 20 research universities,” Erdoğan said on X.

The program aims to bring about 3,000 young researchers into Türkiye’s science and technology ecosystem over the next five years, he said.

“We will build the Century of Türkiye with the power of science, technology and our young people,” Erdoğan said. “We will continue working for a strong, prosperous and fully independent Türkiye that develops, produces and presents the technologies of the future to the world.”

The initiative comes as Türkiye expands higher education and research programs in artificial intelligence, defense technologies, semiconductors and digital infrastructure.

According to the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), the number of artificial intelligence-related programs has reached 785 across 171 universities. The new departments focus on fields including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, biotechnology and digital technologies.

Erdoğan has also unveiled an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan for 2026-2030, which aims to mobilize at least $10 billion in investment in data centers, cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.