Türkiye is launching a new initiative to strengthen its science and technology workforce, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.
"In strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, chip technologies and advanced computer systems, we will initially select 550 doctoral students through a centralised examination and train them at 20 research universities," Erdogan said on X on Thursday.
He said about 3,000 young researchers would be brought into Türkiye's science and technology ecosystem in five years.
"We will build the Century of Türkiye with the power of science, technology and our young people," Erdogan said.
"We will continue working for a strong, prosperous and fully independent Türkiye that develops, produces and presents the technologies of the future to the world."
Türkiye’s AI roadmap
The initiative follows the launch of Türkiye’s 2026-2030 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, which seeks to strengthen the country’s technological independence and establish it as a global AI centre.
Under the plan, Türkiye aims to train 10,000 high-level AI experts and 100,000 application professionals, while providing AI literacy training to five million people across all 81 provinces within two years.
The roadmap also targets at least $10 billion in private-sector investment in AI and data centres, with sectoral pilot programmes planned in areas including health, energy and smart manufacturing.
