The MÜSİAD VISIONARY summit, which the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) has organized every two years since 2015 in order to add value to its prestige in the national and international arena and to raise its brand value, was held at the TİM Show Center under the motto “THE POWER OF WE”.
The future of the business world was put on the table at the Visionary'23 Summit held at the TİM Show Center on 4 November 2023. Bringing together the leaders and thinkers of the business world by addressing the changes required by the business world of the future, Visionary'23 was held in the light of four themes and under the motto “The Power of WE''. “The Power of WE in Technology”, “The Power of WE in Entrepreneurship”, “The Power of WE in Changing the World”, “The Power of WE in Values” were the headings of the sessions in which a rich content was presented to the participants.
While the summit hosted distinguished figures who have achieved significant successes in their fields, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır and Baykar Chairman of the Board Selçuk Bayraktar, as well as former President of Religious Affairs Mehmet Görmez, author and academic Prof. Dr. Türker Kılıç, Turkcell General Manager Dr. Ali Taha Koç, Next Academy founder Levent Erden and the successful head coach of the A National Football Team Vincenzo Montella, added colour to the summit with their speeches.
MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY MEHMET FATİH KACIR: “OUR COUNTRY CONTINUES ITS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY WITH MORE THAN 9,800 ENTERPRISES IN ITS 101 TECHNOPARKS”
Speaking at the opening of the MÜSİAD Visionary'23 Summit, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır pointed out that over 21 years major breakthroughs had been achieved in many fields with a domestic and national approach under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and said: "Twenty years ago we were exporting USD 240 million a year; today we are talking about a defence industry export of USD 5.4 billion over the last 12 months. We continue to work in order to increase this figure even further in the period ahead. We have established planned industrial infrastructures capable of meeting the needs of our industrialists. We have implemented incentive packages that will increase the private sector's appetite for investment. While mobilizing local development dynamics, we offered state supports to the industrial sector, to SMEs, to academics and to entrepreneurs. Today our country continues its technology development journey with more than 9,800 enterprises in its 101 technoparks. Together with our more than 1,600 R&D and design centres, we have a great R&D army of 222,000 people. In 2002 our exports stood at around USD 36 billion. Today we are talking about a record export of USD 254 billion. Approximately USD 240 billion of these exports is made up of the manufacturing industry," Kacır said, adding: “By carrying the approach we have applied in TOGG, our national pride, into different fields as well, we aim to increase the number of similar success stories.”
MINISTER OF TRADE ÖMER BOLAT: “WE ARE INCREASING OUR MINISTRY'S 2024 BUDGET AND EXPORT SUPPORTS AT LEAST TWOFOLD”
Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, one of the former presidents of MÜSİAD, began his speech at Visionary'23 with these words: "As a brother of yours, two thirds of whose working life and half of whose life has passed in duties at MÜSİAD, and now speaking at this podium as Minister of Trade for five months, the meaning of this is very deep for me." Bolat, who said, "In the transformation process taking place in the global economy, the traditional structure of international trade has changed significantly and the subject of trade has shifted from labour-intensive sectors to technology-intensive sectors. We are in a period in which products offering digital and green solutions has become the main criterion for competitiveness and the tendency towards green economies is increasing," then stated the following:
"In the first century of our Republic, whose 100th anniversary we celebrated last week, we achieved a great deal. Together we achieved the most impossible. We did this together; we achieved it by saying ONE of us is for all of us, by saying WE. We did this at Çanakkale, we did it in the War of Independence, we did it in the industrialization movement of the early years of the Republic, in the development effort of the planned period, and in the process of opening up to the world in the 1980s. And in the last 21 years, with the giant investments made under the strong leadership of our conductor, our esteemed President Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN, with its infrastructure and superstructure, with its education and health system, with its industry and agriculture, with its tourism sector and exports, we have become a large economy and a strong country, and we have attained a respected position in the world in the military and political spheres.”
MAHMUT ASMALI: “WE MUST STRENGTHEN AND SUPPORT DOMESTIC PRODUCTION”
MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı, who began his speech with the words, “MÜSİAD is a civil society organization founded in 1990 by 12 young entrepreneurs with the horizon of ‘High Morality, High Technology' and with the aim of becoming the domestic and national power of the Turkish business world. MÜSİAD is a family hearth. Here we mature, we develop, we grow stronger, and we carry the success of honest labour to the whole world. MÜSİAD is independent, it transforms the future; it is honest, it observes right and law; it is sincere, it puts its homeland and its nation before all else,” made the following statements:
“As all of us know very well, if we want to be strong in politics and diplomacy, the way to this passes through possessing economic power and economic independence. For this reason, as we have always emphasized as MÜSİAD, we must strengthen and support domestic production. Along with this, the most important element that will make us strong is our being ‘one and together'. Not you, me, him; only if we are WE can we bring out our own power. Only if we are we can no power stand before us and we become the true decision-makers. If we are together and strong, we can intervene in the war and the human tragedy being experienced. If we want to support our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we must be strong. In short, we must believe in the power and might of WE”
ASMALI: “TÜRKİYE IS A GREAT POWER BOTH REGIONALLY AND GLOBALLY”
In his speech, Asmalı said: “In the Century of Türkiye, in which we have entered the 100th year of our Republic, Türkiye has succeeded in becoming a great power both globally and regionally, with a national income of USD 905 billion, exports that have left the level of USD 255 billion behind and a labour market exceeding 31 million in employment. Thanks to its existing manufacturing potential, flexible production capacity, qualified human resources and its proximity to large markets, our country has risen to the position of a serious production base. We are fully confident that Türkiye, which has carried the flag of exports to more than 200 countries and has made very great breakthroughs in many fields from the economy to infrastructure and urbanization, from education to health, will maintain this success in the coming period as well and will enter among the 10 largest economies of the world in the second century of our Republic.”
BAYKAR CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD SELÇUK BAYRAKTAR: “IN 20 YEARS WE HAVE REDUCED EXTERNAL DEPENDENCY FROM 85 PERCENT TO 20 PERCENT”
BAYKAR Chairman of the Board Selçuk Bayraktar, who delivered a presentation at Visionary'23, shared the brand's story and vision with the participants. Stating that Baykar alone exports to 33 countries a high technology that has left its mark on the world, Bayraktar said: "Türkiye has produced armed UAVs (SİHA) that are 5 times better known in the world than its closest competitor (the American one). If you look at it in terms of the use of technology, the Turkish armed forces have also won the first war won with armed UAVs, with the Bayraktar TB2." Bayraktar TB3 is currently in the air, the third flight test is being carried out, said Bayraktar, TEKNOFEST received a tremendous response from its very first year and broke world records. After the world records, it continued to break its own records by a wide margin. In the 100th year of our Republic we hosted 4.5 million visitors" he said.
ŞEKİB AVDAGİÇ: “TÜRKİYE'S INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES SECTOR EXPORTS APPROACHED USD 2 BILLION IN 2022”
Speaking at the opening of the Visionary'23 Summit, İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) Chairman of the Board Şekib Avdagiç said he was pleased to be at the meeting and stated the following: “The Turks, who gave life to trade, are returning to their role once again. We are living through a period in which technological progress is taking place very rapidly in the world; in a century in which transformation has become an absolute necessity in the digital age, Türkiye is building the digital economy. For this purpose it has put every kind of infrastructure in place in very effective ways, especially in the last 20 years.” Noting that a period of very rapid technological progress is being lived through, Avdagiç said: "In the digital age, in a century in which transformation has become an absolute necessity, Türkiye is building the digital economy and is emphasizing the digital and technology as an argument of international competition. To this end it is rapidly putting every kind of infrastructure into practice. Türkiye's information and communication technologies sector exports approached USD 2 billion in 2022."
VISIONARY'23 EXECUTIVE BOARD CHAIRMAN HASAN EKMEN: “WHERE THERE IS COLLECTIVE ACTION, AN EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS IS BORN”
Visionary''23 Executive Board Chairman Hasan Ekmen said in his opening speech: “It must be stated that making success possible in this direction in the Century of Türkiye that we aim for will above all be possible by understanding the world we live in. Where there is collective action, an effective and sustainable success is born.In each theme of our Visionary'23 Summit, understanding and making sense of the world we live in, we aimed
to take developments to a higher level with The Power of WE in Technology,
to build a sustainable future with The Power of WE in Changing the World,
to obtain successful enterprises with a high multiplier through The Power of WE in Entrepreneurship, and
to reconnect with the human being through The Power of WE in Values.” he said.
Attention was drawn to the power of collective action
Visionary23 Executive Board Chairman Hasan Ekmen, who stated that the Visionary summits had been shaped around the themes of “Doing Business with the Future” in 2015, “Transformation” in 2017, “Digital Future” in 2019 and “Take Notice” in 2021, drew attention in his opening speech to the power of collective action. Ekmen said the following in his opening speech: “In today's complex and rapidly evolving environment, no one has all the answers. No scientist can possess all the knowledge in their own field. You cannot save the world merely by using a paper straw. You cannot read the 130 million books written so far on your own. And one is never greater than a thousand.”
