Driving Turkey’s Future with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is transforming all industries and our daily lives. The pace is breathtaking, but this is only the beginning of a new era.
Onur Koç
Author of: Artificial Intelligence for a Better World / The Secrets of Artificial Intelligence for Kids
The third book will be published globally in English channels in Q1 2026.
Regional Technology Officer, Microsoft
Venture Partner, Boğaziçi Ventures
Artificial intelligence is transforming all industries and our daily lives. The pace is breathtaking, but this is only the beginning of a new era.
Because of my profession, I’ve had the opportunity to work in different countries with many public leaders and institutions and to help them shape their National AI Strategies. Some countries are building their National AI Strategies from scratch; others are redesigning their existing frameworks to stay ahead in the global innovation race. Throughout this work, I’ve observed recurring patterns, shared challenges, common goals, and a growing sense of urgency around aligning AI with human values.
National AI strategies should not be only about adopting new technologies. The real focus should be on developing new skills, securing competitive advantage in key sectors, closing gaps in areas where countries are not yet competitive, protecting the digital sovereignty of national assets, and preparing for changes in the geopolitical environment and in labor markets. Measuring the success of these strategies is also not easy.
In this article, drawing from my experience, I explore a central question: How can we use AI technologies as a catalyst to carry Turkey into the future? How can we position Turkey as an integrated, investment-attracting, self-sustaining, and leading country on a global scale? How can we leverage Turkey’s strategic location and strong industries to make it an AI innovation hub across Europe, the Middle East, and the Turkic States? And with what kind of strategy can we achieve all this? I’ve tried to explain these points in detail, including example KPIs.
Türkiye’s Unique Position
Turkey is a country with a unique position at the crossroads of continents, capable of becoming the central hub of AI innovation and digital data routes for Europe, the Middle East, and the Turkic States. Its young, tech-savvy, heavy users of digital technologies create a strong environment for testing and developing AI solutions.
Turkey should deepen and strengthen its close relations with international institutions such as the EU, OECD, and G20, and take part in AI committees, standard-setting processes, and projects.
It is also critically important to create the right conditions that combine domain expertise in Turkey’s strong sectors with the innovation capabilities of its educated workforce, so that we can build global Turkish AI companies and make it easier for global technology companies to invest in our country.
The Importance of a Clear National AI Vision
Every National Artificial Intelligence Strategy should begin with a short, clear, and concise statement—made up of just a few sentences—that expresses the country’s overall goals and guiding principles for how it intends to use AI.
Example:
“Our National AI Vision for Turkey is to foster innovation in order to boost strong economic growth and social welfare; to ensure the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence; to create globally leading AI solutions in key sectors and within the startup ecosystem; to cultivate the next generation of talent; and ultimately to enhance our country’s national competitiveness.”
AI Governance Board
It is crucial to establish a dedicated body or committee responsible for defining and overseeing the implementation of the National AI Strategy. In this respect, the creation of a working group under the Presidential Council on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies has been a very positive step. I would also like to thank them for reaching out to me. I have shared my detailed feedback and experience with them as well.
These boards play a very important role. Effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders in the public sector, private sector, and academia is essential. The principles and objectives of the AI strategy that will be developed together should be clearly defined; the board should decide how success will be measured and reported, and progress should be periodically shared with sector leaders and citizens.
AI Principles
The principles of a National AI Strategy should be defined as the core values and guiding beliefs that shape a country’s approach to developing, deploying, and governing AI technologies.
What do these principles define?
Ethical Boundaries:
They ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that respects human rights and values. The primary goal must be to keep humans at the center.National Priorities:
They reflect the country’s objectives—whether in economic growth, transformation of public services, national security, or digital sovereignty.Trust:
By clearly defining principles such as privacy, inclusiveness, and security, they build trust among the public, citizens, and stakeholders.International Alignment:
They help harmonize with global norms, frameworks, and committees, facilitating international cooperation and responsible AI development.Long-Term Vision:
Even as technologies evolve rapidly, they provide a robust foundation for policymaking, investment, and innovation.
A few example principles:
Enhancing citizens’ wellbeing
Sustainable economic and social development
Clear accountability for AI decisions and outcomes
AI systems that are resilient and secure
International cooperation for trustworthy and responsible AI development and deployment
A focus on human values and social equity
Focus Industries and AI Solution Areas for Turkey
Each country has its own industrial fabric and unique growth goals. To fully harness the potential of AI, it is vital to identify and prioritize the sectors where transformation can have the greatest impact.
A well-prepared National AI Strategy should set out a clear vision that aligns technological advancement with strategic sectors, promoting innovation while targeting inclusive and sustainable growth.
Education, Healthcare, Financial Services, Public Services, Agriculture, Energy, and Defense… These are industries I frequently see in National AI Strategies and they form the backbone of many countries’ strength and prosperity. They are also critical sectors for a country’s self-sufficiency.
Education shapes future generations and disseminates knowledge; healthcare protects lives and improves quality of life; financial services keep economies stable and help people manage money; public services ensure justice, security, and organization in society; agriculture guarantees food security for everyone; energy powers homes, digital infrastructure, schools, and industries; and defense protects countries from threats.
In Turkey’s case, we can add the gaming and manufacturing sectors, where the country holds a very significant global position.
If priorities and incentive programs are designed correctly, we can amplify the strengths of these core industries through AI and increase Turkey’s global competitiveness.
When we think about public services, AI can be applied in many areas:
smart public services and citizen-centric digital services (E-Government and E-Nabız are extremely valuable for Turkey here); using AI in public-sector data analytics to make faster and more accurate decisions; disaster management and emergency scenarios; AI-supported threat analysis and attack prevention in defense and security, and many more…
In the private sector, from lifelong learning and digital teaching assistants in education, to early diagnosis and treatment applications in healthcare; from fraud detection and risk services in finance, to smart grids, demand forecasting, and sustainable energy management in energy; from yield prediction and smart irrigation services in agriculture, to more realistic experiences and personalized scenarios through AI in the gaming sector; and in manufacturing, not only making factories intelligent, but ensuring that every product produced contains a spark of intelligence…
We should leverage the strength of these sectors, where Turkey already has advantages, as a multiplier… We need to build AI-powered glocal solutions, support solution providers, and enable them to gain a share of the global market.
Required Technology Infrastructure / AI Tools
While AI innovation is progressing at an extraordinary pace, sustaining this momentum requires a strategic foundation at the national level: scalable cloud-based platforms, advanced AI tools, and a rapidly evolving creator and developer ecosystem that together power innovation.
The core components of the required AI infrastructure are:
High-Speed Internet Connectivity:
Essential for seamless access to cloud services, real-time collaboration, and low-latency deployment of AI models across geographies. High-speed connectivity is also critical for user/customer experience in many AI applications.Scalable Cloud Infrastructure:
These are the backbone of AI innovation. They provide elastic compute, storage, and networking resources to train, deploy, and scale AI models, allowing developers to build AI applications quickly and efficiently. To unlock the full potential of this ecosystem, Turkey should aim for a balanced mix of global hyperscale platforms and local cloud infrastructure so that businesses and developers have seamless access to the tools they need.Sustainable Energy and Water for AI Data Centers:
Data centers are the engines of AI innovation. To sustain this momentum—whether at hyperscale or local scale—they must run on renewable energy and be cooled by responsibly sourced water. Achieving carbon neutrality or net-zero emissions should not be optional, but a mandatory target. In addition, AI-optimized data centers should maintain a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.2 to ensure operational efficiency and environmental stewardship.AI Models:
LLMs (Large Language Models), SLMs (Small Language Models), and CLMs (Custom/Compact Language Models) optimized for or inclusive of Turkish language, culture, and history are a crucial part of cultural sustainability in the digital world. These models bridge the gap between global AI capabilities and local cultural, linguistic, and social contexts, enabling our native language to be understood more accurately.Next-Generation Tools for AI-Powered Application Development:
AI-based application development tools are revolutionizing how intelligent applications are built; they accelerate innovation by offering low-code platforms, ready-made APIs, and integrated machine learning workflows. Tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and Cursor are examples of this shift.Next-Generation AI Tools for Great Content Creation:
AI-supported multimodal creative tools are redefining how content is imagined, created, and shared. They enable creators across industries to craft compelling stories through generative models for text, images, video, and audio.Data Services Ready for AI Applications:
Compiling high-quality, anonymized data from fragmented and siloed sources and ensuring consistency, accessibility, and compliance throughout the entire data lifecycle is essential for AI. Unifying structured and unstructured data (customer interactions, IoT signals, micro-moments, operational records, open datasets, etc.) is critical for AI model training and inference.Privacy, Security, and Digital Sovereignty Tools and Expertise:
For trustworthy AI infrastructure, it is essential to protect sensitive data with encryption, granular access controls, and privacy-enhancing technologies. Sovereign cloud options are important for drawing the boundaries of digital sovereignty for sensitive services and data. When these capabilities are combined with ethical innovation and regulatory compliance, they make it possible to establish trusted digital ecosystems.Edge AI and On-Device Intelligence:
Important for enabling real-time inference and decision-making at the endpoints, reducing latency, and preserving privacy in decentralized environments.
Bringing all these elements together and taking steps to support investment in these areas is critical to unlocking Turkey’s AI potential.
National Data-Sharing Platforms and Open Data Islands
High-quality data is the raw material of AI. To unlock innovation in strategic sectors and in the public domain, we must move beyond fragmented data silos toward a connected ecosystem of high-quality, accessible data platforms. We can call these National Data-Sharing Platforms.
National Data-Sharing Platforms can accelerate innovation by enabling the secure and ethical sharing of high-quality data between public institutions and strategic sectors. A portion of this data should be anonymized and made available to the entrepreneurial ecosystem as open data islands to nourish AI-powered entrepreneurship.
This is not just a technical necessity; it is a strategic matter. Because when high-quality, secure data flows, insight follows. And with insight comes the power to design solutions that truly serve society.
Building a Domestic AI Ecosystem
Fostering innovation requires more than technology; it requires collaboration. It demands a partnership culture that takes projects from POC to production. When the private sector, public institutions, and academia work together, they create an ecosystem where ideas scale, prototypes mature, and solutions take root.
Innovation accelerates through shared purpose and collective momentum. The following elements are important for strengthening the AI ecosystem in Turkey:
Partnership Between the Private Sector, Public Institutions, and Academia:
An AI development partnership in which these three groups work together as parts of the same team is critical. The private sector brings capital, domain expertise, and the ability to turn ideas into real products. Public institutions set the rules, provide support, and ensure that AI is safe and fair for everyone. Academia adds knowledge and new discoveries and trains students to become the experts of the future.Only when these three join forces can a country build stronger and smarter AI solutions that truly help society. This partnership is like building a sports team: every player has a role. The public sector acts as the coach, setting the strategy and rules. Universities are the training ground where talented players are developed. Companies are the players on the field, using their resources and creativity to score goals. If they share data, co-fund joint projects, and respect each other’s strengths, the “team” wins big, and a strong, safe, and beneficial AI ecosystem for everyone is created within our country.
Domestic R&D Capacity:
AI R&D capacity is like the “engine” that strengthens a country’s ability to create new technologies rather than just buying them from others. To build this capacity, we need to educate students in AI, provide powerful computers and laboratories, encourage teamwork between universities, companies, and the public sector, and set clear rules to guide safe and fair use. Beyond AI infrastructure, partnerships with global companies in domestic R&D centers are critical components in developing this capacity.Investment in a Global AI Startup and Scaleup Ecosystem:
We must remove barriers to the globalization of Turkish AI startups and scaleups and provide them with easy access to accelerators and funding pools. We should establish regulatory sandbox environments, fast financing mechanisms, legal facilitation, and rapid approval pathways. We must set targets—for example, establishing 50 global AI ventures within five years and offering special incentives to companies with unicorn potential.Cooperation with EU, OECD, and G20 countries and global technology companies in R&D and pilot projects, attracting funds, and having a presence on committees will all strengthen our ecosystem. Tax advantages and incentives should attract international AI investments, while export support and government-backed campaigns should promote glocal AI solutions. For a strong ecosystem, training internationally certified AI experts and having a qualified workforce is crucial. Alignment with the EU AI Act, ISO standards, and global data-sharing protocols will prepare our country for the global AI market.
Open Developer and AI Agent Ecosystem:
We must provide digital spaces where developers can collaborate, design next-generation AI agents, test them, publish them, discuss what they’ve learned, and share the AI agents they create with one another. Shared experiences stimulate learning, experimentation, and innovation. For this, we need to establish sandbox environments with clear yet flexible rules, quick access to funding, and alignment with global standards.
Legal Regulations
A strong legal and regulatory foundation is the key to responsible AI innovation. To unlock its full potential, frameworks must be agile, interoperable, and designed not to hinder innovation but to encourage it. International cooperation—alignment with the EU AI Act, digital sovereignty, GDPR-compliant data protection regulations, and the handling of cross-border risks—is of vital importance when developing national AI strategies. Ensuring algorithmic accountability and keeping humans in the loop is critical.
Flexible regulatory mechanisms and mutual recognition agreements should be established with the EU, OECD, and G20 countries. Active representation on global ethics and regulatory platforms will also be crucial.
Removing unnecessary obstacles while maintaining common standards will enable the public sector, businesses, and developers to build with confidence and responsibility.
Below, you can find the first four international AI regulations that are important for responsible AI design and implementation.
As a country, we need to invest in education programs, research initiatives, public–private partnerships, and workforce skill-development incentives. Examples of core skill-building initiatives include:
Integrating AI into Primary and Secondary Education (Including Teacher Training)
We should integrate AI concepts into school curricula. Teachers must be trained to promote digital fluency and critical thinking.
University-Level AI Curricula and Research Programs
We must expand academic learning pathways in machine learning, GenAI, AI ethics, and applied AI to train future researchers and innovators.
Establishing AI Training and Certification Centers
We need centers to help professionals develop skills and certify AI competencies across industries.
Using AI for Personalized Learning and Public Services
We should leverage AI to personalize education based on individual needs and to increase efficiency in public administration and citizen services.
Public–Private Partnerships for Workforce Skills
Industries must collaborate to provide hands-on training, internships, and job placements in AI-related roles.
National AI Literacy Campaigns
We should launch awareness programs to help citizens understand what AI is, its impact, risks, and opportunities, and to encourage informed participation.
Incentives for Lifelong Learning in AI
We should offer national awards, tax advantages, and micro-certifications to encourage lifelong learning and recognition in this field.
How Can We Measure the Success of a National AI Strategy?
To convert strategy into impact, we must define and track a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aligned with the goals of the AI strategy and compatible with OECD, EU AI Act, and ISO standards. These KPIs guide the evaluation of progress, help refine the strategy, and ensure inclusiveness and sustainability.
It is extremely important that the objectives and KPIs of the National AI Strategy are continuously monitored and reported through a RegTech-based digital platform, managed by the National AI Committee and/or an independent institution.
If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.
Examples of National AI Strategy Objectives and KPIs
Objective: Promote AI-Driven Economic Growth
Measures the impact of AI on the national economy.
KPIs:
Contribution of AI-related sectors to GDP (percentage of national GDP)
Growth in AI startups and investments (total funding raised)
Percentage of glocal AI ventures; number and stages of AI startups, scaleups, and unicorns
Objective: Develop a Skilled and Expert AI Workforce
Measures accessibility to AI skills and workforce readiness.
KPIs:
Number of AI specialists graduating from universities and vocational programs
Participation in AI development initiatives (training of public- and private-sector employees)
Annual AI research publications (relative to global rankings)
Objective: Increase AI Adoption in Strategic Sectors and Establish Best Practices
Shows the practical impact of the strategy on the public sector, private sector, and public services.
KPIs:
AI adoption rate in public services (e.g., healthcare, e-government, education)
AI integration rate in sectors such as FSI, Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Transportation
Objective: Expand AI R&D and Innovation Capacity
Measures how well the strategy supports research and promotes innovation.
KPIs:
Annual AI R&D expenditures (public and private combined)
Annual AI-related patent applications and approvals
Objective: Ensure Ethical and Human-Centered AI Across Sectors
Promotes human-centric AI applications and maximizes societal benefit.
KPIs:
Public awareness and trust in AI (survey-based)
Number of ethical violations or incidents involving AI technologies
Compliance rate with AI ethical frameworks
Objective: Promote AI-Enabled Employment Opportunities and Support the Workforce with New Job Strategies
Addresses concerns about job displacement and new role creation.
KPIs:
Net difference between AI-related job creation and jobs impacted by automation
Growth in AI-related job postings
Objective: Enhance Global Competitiveness and Collaboration
Measures Turkey’s competitiveness in AI on a global scale.
KPIs:
Position in global AI rankings (e.g., Stanford AI Index, OECD AI Observatory)
Number of international collaborations and partnerships in AI research and development
Final Thoughts
AI is advancing very rapidly. For our country to succeed in this domain, it is essential to establish a clear strategy based on our strengths, set measurable goals, and build a global AI ecosystem. To create real impact, we must determine our areas of focus, build a sustainable governance system, and continuously track progress.
If we strategize correctly, we can ensure that all citizens—from students and teachers to researchers, entrepreneurs, workers, industry leaders, and public officials—are prepared for and successful in the AI era.