Researchers gather in Istanbul meeting

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) brought 400 researchers and business people together May 25 for a brokerage event on biotechnology, advanced materials, space, manufacturing and processing technologies.

Turkish Deputy Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Davut Kavranoğlu said networking was one of the most important tools to provide a base for Turkish and European researchers to cooperate on high technology.

“Turkey has to increase [its] number of qualified researchers. This kind of rapprochements between countries will not only boost technology, but will also reduce misunderstandings between cultures and exclusionist manners. That makes this is an important meeting,” he said.

Cooperation with Europe

The director-general of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, Robert-Jan Smits, also participated in the event, where he said Turkey’s first-rate universities and research institutes were enthusiastic to cooperate with their European colleagues.

According to TÜBİTAK’s data, a fund of some 25 million euros was provided to 200 projects in Turkey under the sixth EU Framework Program in 2011.