New Approaches in R&D and Innovation
Increasing the share of high-tech products with high added value in the national economy should be identified as a vital priority. It is necessary to carry out the necessary studies and act within the framework of a policy to direct the labor force, which is mainly focused on the service sector, and the capital, which is mainly focused on the construction sector, towards high technology.
The resources allocated to R&D activities have paved the way for significant progress in high technology. However, some changes in approach are needed to achieve the expected leap forward. There is a need for more result-oriented approaches in the identification and follow-up of projects. In some cases, project support can only be designed as a resource utilization for a certain period of time and does not produce the expected results.
One suggestion is to focus on ordering products or R&D. R&D activities can be incentivized with orders to be placed by taking into account the current market conditions for the product expected to emerge as a result of a study, and with appropriate time plans, with the own resources of the aspirant companies or the opportunities offered by investors. With this method, I believe that there will be a significant increase in successful R&D processes.
With this approach, private funds and capitals can also be included in the R&D budget, thus increasing the total resources. In the current situation, state resources are dominant. With this approach, private sector capital will also become a significant contributor. The biggest hesitation of an investor is that the work will not be sold and therefore the return on the invested resources will not be realized or will be delayed. A process that starts with a pre-order will alleviate these concerns. Likewise, entrepreneurs and idea owners will be more courageous and aggressive with this method.
This method can be used for products that are already outsourced or for completely new needs. The basic principle here is that the procurement to meet the needs should be contracted at the first stage of the idea.
In the same way, it can make a significant contribution in studies where R&D activities in accordance with specified criteria are ordered to specialized companies and R&D funds are made available. In this process, models should be created for approaches such as R&D ordering through TÜBİTAK or R&D ordering by investors.
Although it is not correct to expect all R&D processes to turn into a product, it should be kept in mind that process improvements are needed at every stage for the efficient use of resources. Proper utilization of limited resources will be the key to success.
In addition to these, the correct positioning of human resources will increase the share of high technology. Solutions should be created to guide the new generation in a focused manner through specialized schools. Unfortunately, the role of youth as IT users has been confined to the consumer category. Youth should be saved from being consumers of informatics and transformed into producers of informatics. Within the framework of the topics highlighted in development with informatics reports, youth should be brought to a level where they can do value-added work with solutions such as informatics schools. It is only possible for a person employed in minimum wage jobs to earn much higher wages after a certain period of time if they accumulate savings. People who turn to call centers, security, parking services, etc., which do not promise future advancement and accumulation, will work at or around the minimum wage level throughout their entire working lives and we will have a continuous minimum wage agenda. However, for people who can make progress in their own professions, the minimum wage will only be a starting point and at a certain stage it will be completely off their agenda.
As a result of all these evaluations, the following determination can be made: The vision of a country that produces, not uses, next-generation technologies and uses these technologies for high value-added jobs will be possible with properly designed education, guidance, R&D and innovation policies.