The Association of Science Ambassadors have, for the last five years, been  organizing summit meetings called “Summit of Awareness Abroad” in order to promote the accomplishments of Turkish scientists in Turkey and across the  world as well as encourage and expand scientific studies. This year the summit meeting was organized on 5-6 May 2018 under the title “THY Science Ambassadors Summit.”

“There is a gap between the perception and reality about Turkey”

The summit, which adopted the motto “Not Brain Drain, but Brain Power”,  was opened by a speech delivered by the Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek. He stressed the importance of the  meeting of scientists from all over the world for the general perception about Turkey, saying that: “There has emerged a gap between the perception and reality about Turkey. One way of overcoming this gap is to make reforms. On the other hand, we also need that our scientists across the world work like ambassadors. It is of critical importance that our scientists represent the situation in Turkey in a realistic way.”

Mehmet Şimşek also underlined the importance of  human capital and added that: “Our spending on education exceeds the OECD average, but we have not yet acquired the quality that we desire. Therefore, the most critical issue in the future is  to make more efforts to increase quality in education.”    

Among the participants of the summit were Chief Advisor to the President Prof. Dr. Davut Kavranoğlu, CEO of the FIBA Holding and  Founder and President of the Board of Trustees of the Özyeğin University Hüsnü Özyeğin,  Advisor to the Board of Executives and Director General of Turkcell Dr. Mustafa Aykut, CEO of the TAV Dr. M. Sani Şener, President of the Yunus Emre Institute Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş, Instructor at the Physics Department of the Middle East Technical University and member of the Science Board of the Yunus Emre Institute Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz. Many other distinguished invitees were also present in the event.       

“We Are Building Science Bridges with TABİP”

In his speech in the meeting, the Yunus Emre Institute President Prof. Dr. Ateş said that the Yunus Emre Institute was founded in 2009 to improve the perception about Turkey and it has  since established cultural centers abroad, including within  universities, to promote Turkish language, culture and art. Prof. Ateş  stated that the Yunus Emre Institute is not alone in its efforts to improve the perception about Turkey and that THY, TİKA and YTB as well as private individuals are all contributing to this process. He added that the Yunus Emre Institute continues its activities under five main fields including science diplomacy which is implemented under the name of the Academic and Scientific Cooperation Project of Turkey (TABİP).

Prof. Ateş underlined that, in addition to promoting Turkey’s academic and scientific studies in the international fora with its experience and accumulation, the Yunus Emre Institute could also serve as a suitable institution to contribute to the studies in these fields in our country and that the Yunus Emre Institute assumed the mission of a science ambassador with the TABİP project which is designed to achieve this objective.

Prof. Ateş pointed out that “Science Advisors” were begun to be appointed for the TABİP purposes abroad and that Turkey’s science map will be soon completed after the activation of a web portal in June where all the relevant date are analyzed. He said that the activities under the science bridge and science diplomacy would be carried out between Turkey and the world by means of this portal.

Pointing to the fact that the proportion of female academicians in Turkey stands at % 50 while the corresponding figure for Europe is around % 30, Prof. Ateş emphasized that the promotion of the reality about Turkey, which enjoys considerable number of scientists and science capacity, by means of such projects would make positive impact the perception about Turkey. He therefore called on our scientists living abroad to contribute to this process.

“Transfer of Information Brings About Production”

The Instructor at the Physics Department of the Middle East Technical University and Member of the Science Board of the Yunus Emre Institute Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz dwelled on the significance of international interaction and the subsequent information transfer to Turkey and said that:  “If you transfer information, you can produce its next version by yourselves. If you transfer technology, you cannot produce its next version by yourselves. In the technology transfer, you cannot transfer the basis of the technology and analyze it. In the information transfer, the reasons behind  any particular information and results are analyzed. Therefore , we should  work on the transfer and sharing of information.”

Prof. Demirköz also talked about the scientific studies in Turkey and said that the earth observation satellite which is being produced by Turkey is planned to be launched into the space by the end of  2020 or the beginning of 2021.