Istanbul Human Resources Forum was organized by the Presidency of Human Resources Office at the Istanbul Congress Center with the theme of "Society 5.0," defined as “The Future Human-Centered Society.” BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu also attended the forum.
Speaking at the forum, President Karagözoğlu stated that "human and human happiness" are at the center of Society 5.0.
Karagözoğlu said, “While Society 5.0 will provide many contributions to our lives, the most prominent ones include smart cities, health services, education, Industry 4.0, environmental sustainability, and the increase in human-centered services. The technologies forming the basis of digital transformation are artificial intelligence, blockchain, distributed ledger systems, quantum computing, cloud technologies, and the Internet of Things. All these technologies combine to form the informatics backbone of Society 5.0.”
Stating that Turkey needs technological infrastructure and a qualified workforce capable of working with these infrastructures in its digital transformation process, Karagözoğlu said, “Our institution continues to support the education of our youth in the field of technology through BTK Academy to keep up quickly with the developing and changing world. In addition, through software camps, summits, and events, young people from all over the country are both trained and provided with a vision in this field.”
Emphasizing that the internet is one of the most important elements for Society 5.0, Karagözoğlu expressed the importance of 5G technologies in this regard. Karagözoğlu stated, “Studies for 5G are being conducted together under the leadership of our Ministry and BTK. While our preparations in the regulatory field for 5G technologies continue, the nationalization of electronic communication infrastructures is also among our most important goals. Ensuring the transition from 4.5G to 5G with our domestic and national products and reliable infrastructures at the highest possible rate, and transferring the experience we will gain to next-generation communication technologies, is one of our primary objectives.”
Stating that important studies are being carried out with all stakeholders to further develop communication infrastructures within the scope of Society 5.0 targets, President Karagözoğlu said, “The length of fiber infrastructure in our country has exceeded 536 thousand km. It is possible to say that this development in our fiber infrastructure has made significant contributions to the increase in internet speeds and the amount of data used. On the other hand, as of June 2023, the number of broadband internet subscribers in our country has exceeded 93 million, approximately 74 million of which are mobile subscribers. The fiber subscriber number, which was 1.2 million in 2013, reached 6.3 million in the second quarter of 2023, while our M2M subscriber number reached 8.5 million.”
Touching upon the fact that while connecting to the world via the internet, we also become vulnerable to cyber attacks, Karagözoğlu said, “With USOM under BTK, our country is protected against threats in the cyber world. I would like to additionally state that more than 2,100 Sectoral SOMEs as of October 2023, along with more than 7,200 cybersecurity experts registered to the SOME Communication Platform operated under USOM, are protecting our country's cyber domain.”
President Karagözoğlu: It Is Important for Turkey's Data to Stay in Turkey
Stating that as BTK, they attach great importance to keeping Turkey's data in Turkey, Karagözoğlu said, “We continue our efforts to turn our country into a regional data center hub. Our two large data centers in our institution are among the largest data storage capacities owned by the public sector.”
Conveying that the way to prepare society for an initiative like Society 5.0, which envisions societal transformation, is through an intensive education process, Karagözoğlu drew attention to increasing the digital literacy rates of individuals in society.
Karagözoğlu said, “In this context, our institution is also conducting studies to develop individuals' digital literacy. Through the BTK Academy platform, more than 200 free lessons and training materials are offered to relevant stakeholders regarding digital literacy and data security. On the other hand, the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM), which operates under our institution, continues to raise awareness on cybersecurity and data breaches at public and private sector levels through the exercises it conducts and the trainings it provides while combating cyber attacks occurring and likely to occur in Turkey.” He concluded his speech with these words.