13.11.2015 Antalya
TOBB President and B20 Turkey Chair M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the handing off ceremony of T20 Chair to China. Directing the Think-tanks 20 (T20) during Turkey’s G20 2015 Term Chairmanship, TEPAV handed off the duty to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai Institute of International Relations and the Renmin University.
TOBB President and B20 Turkey Chair M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that
one of the most discussed issues for G20 throughout the year has been
sustainable growth and technology’s role to this end. Stating that technology
has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last decade, Hisarcıklıoğlu said,
“Especially in three fields is this apparent: Biotechnology, nanotechnology and
informatics. The progress in these three fields is reshaping the world’s
economy, as well as enabling workers and institutions to be more productive and
efficient. These technological developments are of critical importance in
surmounting the problems we encounter in the 21st century.”
- Health, agriculture and
fighting climate change
Stating that these technologies will be most visible in fields with the
widest reaching effects such as health, agriculture and fighting climate change,
Hisarcıklıoğlu went on:
“In regards to the private sector, production processes and global value
chains will be transformed in parallel with these developments. G20 member or
not, the future of all countries lies with their ability to adapt to and manage
these processes through innovation.
Transformation through technology will continue to be among G20 goals
for robust, sustainable and balanced growth. It will have an effect on every
issue on G20’s agenda from development employment; from growth to commerce. Especially
developing countries should continue to develop their technologies. That is the
only way for them to remain competitive and overcome issues regarding
healthcare, environment and socioeconomics. Otherwise they face the risk of
falling behind. That is why T20 Turkey has adopted technological transformation
and innovation as its focal subject. We
want G20 to provide leadership in these matters. We have seen the necessity of
this. The G20 mechanism should lead the way for countries who may encounter
issues in these matters. It should bring parties together and ensure
cooperation.
G20 can be the global mechanism for developing countries to access
technology, increase their innovation capacities and achieve sustainable
development.
G20’s capacity in the fields of Food security, climate change and
healthcare should be utilized.
In order to achieve all of these, G20 must establish a global network of
science, technology and innovation as well as ensuring compliance in regards to
standardization in thes matters.
- Public and private sector
partnership
Models for public and private sector cooperation need to be developed.
Public sector’s service and goods acquisition systems should be renewed in
order to incentivize technology transfers. G20 should promote funds to finance
R&D activities globally in regards to environmental issues and low carbon
emissions.
Especially developing markets and countries should be supported with the
Greene Climate Fund. This fund would promote the development of biotechnology
and form global R&D platforms.
Such a platform would also be able to coordinate the necessary
technology solutions to various epidemics which could potentially affect many
countries. Additionally, G20 should also focus on the internet and digital
commerce necessary for global growth. SMEs must be better integrated into the
digital economy. E-commerce usage should become more widespread.
G20 should also take on a leadership role in regards to internet
governance. G20 countries should cooperate in the matters of the flow of information,
digital rules and regulations as well as the handling of these matters on a
global level.
G20, with its experience and expertise can achieve progress in all of
these matters. T20 Turkey took the first steps to this end and established
dialogue mechanisms. We ensured that, for the first time, innovation would
officially feature on G20’s agenda. In this regard, we have launched
Innovation-20.
Innovation-20 will work to raise awareness regarding innovation.
Especially lacking in developing countries, this mechanism must be focused on.
A working mechanism based on new technologies is necessary. G20 Turkey-2015 has
taken the first steps to this end with Innovation-20, making it the ideal
global mechanism for spreading new technologies and innovation culture to
developing markets and large scale adoption.”