Mr. İbrahim Burkay, President of the Board of Directors of Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO), met with the members of the Information Sector Businessmen and Professionals Association (BİSİAD) at an online consultation meeting. President Mr. Burkay said: “The biggest potential is in the IT sector in the era of new normal. We aim to increase the power of the sector in Bursa with the works that we will carry out together with BİSİAD."
Mr. Burkay met with Mr. Dağhan Uzgur, the President of the Board of Directors of Information Sector Businessmen and Professionals Association (BİSİAD) and BİSİAD Board Members at the meeting held by video conference method. President Mr. Burkay, who said that information and software sectors have become the most strategic elements at global trade in the period of COVID-19, emphasized that cities and countries which have increased their power in these sectors will achieve rapid growth.
HISER PROJECT HAS BEEN LAUNCHED
President Mr. Burkay stated that they want to make more use of the potential of the IT sector in order to accelerate the development of the manufacturing industry and increase the share of high-value-added and high technology products in production and exportation. Mr. İbrahim Burkay said: “There is a serious knowledge and experience in the IT sector in Bursa. We aim to gain much higher value-added products to the economy by joining this to the industry. There are studies carried out by BİSİAD for this. As BTSO, we also support these projects. We have serious studies at our universities and ULUTEK. We carried out our HISER Project in the sector together with our Ministry of Trade".
EMPHASIS ON LOCAL SOFTWARE
President Mr. Burkay, who mentioned the importance of companies having local software power, pointed out that awareness in this area should be created. President Mr. Burkay stated that all sectors without software resemble a body without mind and he said: "As a country, we should form a sector structure which acts with its own mind, not with the mind we get from abroad. We should produce alternative local and national solutions to international software without wasting more time in this regard. Otherwise, we will have to use the platforms imposed on us".
WE SHOULD DEVELOP DIGITAL FAIR AND VIRTUAL SHOWROOM PLATFORMS
President Mr. Burkay stated that all national and international events were cancelled during the epidemic period and he continued: “Fairs, bilateral business meetings, trade delegations have been physically suspended. All of these will be carried out digitally. The understanding that people do not trade without seeing or touching has now completely changed. This is clearly seen in the growth rate of e-commerce in the recent period. Many companies achieved the growth which they aimed for 10 years later in almost 3 months. We need to develop these platforms. We need digital fairs and virtual showrooms. As a country, we need to produce these solutions".
WE HAVE SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS WITH SECTORAL NGOs
President Mr. Burkay stated that BTSO has more than 1.600 members in the information sector and they have to produce services for all members, then he said: “Sectoral NGOs are needed to designate a vision and produce projects on this issue. As a chamber, we actually act as coordinator. We have been very successful in all the projects that we have done with sectoral NGOs so far. We also see our cooperation with BİSİAD in this way. We are ready to support the future works with all our means".
WE EXPECT POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION FROM INDUSTRIALISTS OF BURSA
Mr. Dağhan Uzgur, President of the Board of BİSİAD, said that the association which was found in 1997 was the first SİAD in the field of informatics. Mr. Uzgur stated that 85 of the 100 active members of the association are IT companies and he noted that they were carrying out significant studies for the development of the sector. He explained that there are very valuable companies in the IT sector in Bursa and Bursa has started to create a strong perception in the sector. Mr. Uzgur said: “Active studies are carried out especially in Ulutek. At this point, we think that industrialists in Bursa should also prefer software produced by companies of Bursa and include IT companies more in their projects. We expect positive discrimination from our industrialists regarding local software. This situation gives both morale and courage to our companies. Bursa is indeed a very advantageous city in informatics. If we can get the support of the industrialists, we can reach much better points".
WE AIM TO TURN THE SECTOR INTO A VISIONARY STRUCTURE
BTSO Council Member and BİSİAD Board Member İdris Doğrul emphasized that they aim to transform the IT sector into a visionary structure under the BTSO umbrella. Mr. Doğrul stated that Istanbul and Ankara stand out as the main contractors in informatics and Bursa should have a vision from now on. He said: “As BİSİAD, we have made our SWOT analysis. We have strong data. We can create a strong ecosystem together with BTSO so that Bursa becomes a city of informatics".
CERTIFICATION STUDY IN INFORMATICS
Mr. Mustafa Serkan Aksoy, BTSO 48. Committee (Informatics and Information Technologies) President and BİSİAD Board Member stated that they are carrying out a study to ensure that companies in the IT sector complete the certification process and they want to cooperate with Professional Competence Exam and Documentation Centre (MESYEB) and BUTEKOM in the project. Aksoy also stated that they expected support for the Software Valley project and for establishing a structure for young people in Ulutek.
The meeting ended with an exchange of views on future studies. |
