1. RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES IN
TURKEY
Ozgur Kadir OZER
Planning Specialist
POLICIES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF E-INFRASTRUCTURES IN EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES - 08.11.2011, BUCHAREST

2. Outline
• Turkish STI System and Main Policy Documents
• Turkey’s STI Performance
• Public Funds for Research
• Support Process of Research Infrastructures
• Important E-Infrastructure Projects
• Lessons Learned
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3. Important Actors of Turkish STI
System
• Supreme Council of Science and Technology
• Ministry of Development
• Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology
• Ministry of Finance
• TUBITAK – The Scientific and Technological Research
Council of Turkey
• Universities, PRIs,
• TUBA, TPE, TSE, KOSGEB, TTGV, YOK…

4. Main STI Policy Documents
• Development Plans, Mid-term and Annual Programs
• Resolutions of Supreme Council of Science and
Technology
• National Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy
(2011-2016)
• Science and Technology Human Resources Strategy
and Action Plan 2011-2016
• Other Sectorial Strategies
• Information Society Action Plan
• Automotive Industry Strategy
• SME Strategy
• …
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5. Main Policy Documents
9th Development Plan (2007-2013)
Main objective: “to increase the capability of the private sector to
create innovation.”
Priorities:
• Improving university-private sector collaboration,
• Using of R&D human resources and infrastructure at
universities by the private sector,
• Encouraging establishment of research institutes and/or
centers by private sector,
• Improving the researcher human resources in terms of
quality and quantity,
• Legal and institutional regulations for an efficient national
innovation system,
• Improving research infrastructure of universities and public
research institutions,
• Increasing supports for TDZs, technology transfer centers,
and enterprise incubators,
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6. National Science, Technology and Innovation
Strategy (2011-2016)
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7. STI Performance of Turkey
R&D Expenditure
 GERD – from 2 billion to 9.4 billion in PPP $ (between 1998
and 2010),
 GERD as a percentage of GDP – from 0.37% to 0.84%
(between 1998 and 2010),
 GERD performed by - 46% higher education sector, 42.5%
business enterprise sector, 11.4% public sector (2010),
 Direct Public Funds for R&D and innovation– 592 million to 1.9
billion in PPP $ (from 1998 to 2009)
Human Resources
 23,000 to 81,792 FTE R&D personnel (betwwen 1998 and
2010)
Scientific Publications and Patents
Between 1998 and 2009,
 Four-fold increase in scientific publications (5,387 to 25,264)
 Ten-fold increase in patent applications to the PCT (33 to 393),
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8. Direct Public Funds for Research
Through Annual Investment Programs, prepared by Ministry of
Development,
1. Empowering Human Resources,
◦ Researcher and Academician Raising Programs
2. Research Programs,
◦ Turkish Research Area (TARAL) Programs – TUBITAK
(~320 million € in 2011),
◦ Industrial Thesis Program (SANTEZ) – Ministry of Science,
Industry and Technology (~15 millions €),
◦ Technology Development Zones Support Program - Ministry
of Science, Industry and Technology (~15 millions €),
◦ Energy R&D Program – Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources,
◦ …
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9. Public Funds for Research (cont)
3. Research Infrastructures Programs
 Run by Ministry of Development,
 Relation with country and region priorities, focused on public
and private sector needs, multidisciplinary, open to all
researchers.
 ~250 millions € in 2011
 Two types:
◦ Thematic Research Centers,
 In well-established universities and PRIs,
 Very competitive selection process,
 Few centers on each topic (but not single: for competition & diversity),
 Aim to be a center of expertise in a certain area on national and
international scale,
 Size between 1-30 millions €
◦ Central Research Laboratories
 Established in all universities,
 Based on common and priority research infrastructure needs of the all
departments of the university,
 Take into account the needs of the close region in design,
 Size between 2-12 millions €
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10. Assessment of Research Infrastructure Projects and
Selection Criteria
Pre-assessment
Project Panel Support
Call by an Advisor Reviews Decision
Committee
National Priorities and Strategic Importance
• Development Plans and Programs, SCST resolutions, strategic plans of the
applicant institutions, regional needs, etc.
Sustainability
• Required legal base, collaboration with private sector and other stakeholders,
open access, etc.
Competence of the Team
• Research infrastructure management capacity, reputable scientific team, etc.
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11. Some Important Research Infrastructure Projects
• Biotechnology Institute - Ankara University (30 million €)
• Biomedical Research Center – Ege University (35 million €)
• Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology - Bilkent
University (20 million €),
• Nanotechnology Research Center – Sabanci Univ. (20 million
€)
• Industrial Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) – Middle
East Technical University (12 million €),
• Turkish Accelerator Center, TAC – Ankara University with 9
universities (10 million €),
• Aviation Research Center - Istanbul Technical Univ. (25 million
€),
• TUBITAK Reseach Centers growing by 40-50 million €/ year,
• ULAKNET 1&2 – TUBITAK ULAKBIM
• TR-GRID and TRUBA – TUBİTAK ULAKBIM (15 million €)
• National High Performance Computing Center – Istanbul
Technical Uni. (25 million €)
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12. Important E-Infrastructure Projects – 1
ULAKNET 1 & 2
• 160 Universities & Research
Institutions
• 900 Connections, 160.000
Researchers, 2.700.000
Students
• New National Lightpath Project -
New National Academic
Network Infrastructure
(ULAKNET2)
• Aims to reduce 15M Euro
annual ULAKNET Connectivity
Cost funded by Ministry of
Finance
• xWDM and/or Ethernet based
fiber optic access (own or
leased)
• Funded by Ministry of
Development ~7 million €
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13. Important E-Infrastructure Projects – 2
TR-Grid Re-IS and TRUBA-S
• TR-Grid Research e- TOTAL Capacity:
Infrastructure Strengthening 3K CPU Cores
Project 1.6 Pbyte Storage
• Supported required Grid
and HPC resources for
national researchers
(2009-2011)
• ~5 million €
• Turkish Science e-
Infrastructure Strengthing
Project
• Aims to strength national
e-Infrastructures
considering new
technological allignments Reseachers from different
(2012-2014) disciplines and more than 60
• ~10 million € universities and institutions
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14. Important E-Infrastructure Projects – 3
National High Performance Computing (HPC) Center
(UYBHM)
• Located in Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul
• Three main targets:
• scientific research and development projects conducted at
universities and PRIs,
• supporting research activities at private and public sectors,
• international research projects and collaborations.
• The project launched in 2004,
• HPC services started in 2006
• Participated to PRACE in 2008,
• New building (~7,000 m2) will be operational in 2012,
• Provided more than 23 million processor-hours for academic
research projects since 2006,
• Currently has 50 active research projects from 30 academic
institutions,
• More than 600 researchers participated to annual parallel
computing workshops since 2007,
• Total cost ~ 25 million €
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15. Lessons Learned
• Getting political support,
• Continuous financial support,
• Communication among stakeholders,
• Private sector’s contribution,
• Effective monitoring & evaluation,
• Convenient legal and administrative framework
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16. Thank you.
Ozgur Kadir Ozer
kozer@dpt.gov.tr
www.kalkinma.gov.tr
teknoloji@kalkinma.gov.tr
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