Ankara’s twin tech challenge to woo foreign experts and keep its own

Unsplash/Andrej Lišakov

• Scheme fast-tracks visas and permits
• Target is 100,000 tech startups
• Fears that Turkish experts will leave

Turkey wants to persuade foreign tech entrepreneurs and innovators to move to the country with a scheme providing a fast-tracked business permit and residency visa, as it seeks to position itself as a leading international technology hub. 

Ankara has already made a call to tech-savvy travellers through a programme launched in April offering an easy visa service allowing them to work remotely while sunning on a beach or sitting in the shadow of an ancient city.

However Turkey is now taking aim at another level of foreign tech expertise: nomads willing to put down roots in a new country, drivers of startups looking for somewhere to park and innovators wanting to take advantage of the incentives on offer.

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Turkey’s minister of industry and technology Mehmet Kacır launched Tech Visa on September 16, saying the programme would be a milestone in the country’s development.

“The tech visa programme is comprehensive and looks to build a strong future for individuals or innovative entrepreneurs with expertise in technology,” he told a launch gathering in Istanbul. 

Kacır said companies that set up in techno-parks or incubation centres will be exempt from corporate taxes and their employees will be exempt from income taxes, while bureaucratic processes will be fast-tracked. 

He added that by providing three-year-long special working permits and speeding up residence and working applications, Turkey is “enabling participants in the programme to make long-term plans”.

Qualifying firms will also be provided with assistance with legal, financial and technical procedures for up to six months, along with advice on how to access state-backed public incentive and support schemes. 

Reuters/Umit Bektas

Damla Turan, the head of the ministry’s technology entrepreneurs’ department, says Turkey has a number of advantages over other countries also competing in the tech marketplace.

“We are well established with scores of techno-parks and research centres across the country,” she told AGBI.

“We have a skilled young population, and a geopolitically unique position that supports Turkey’s campaign to attract technology-focused work and innovative projects.”

The visa scheme is part of a wider policy initiative, the High Technology Incentive Programme (HIT-30). Launched by Turkey in July, HIT-30 seeks to attract up to $30 billion in private investment into tech industries by offering a mix of tax incentives and subsidies, with a strong emphasis on the electric vehicle, renewable energy and semi-conductor sectors. 

Turkey wants to have 100,000 tech-powered startups by 2030, with 100 of those being “unicorns”, valued at $1 billion or more. 

‘A new era of hyper innovation’

However Mete Çakmakcı, the secretary general of the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey, sees some obstacles to those goals being met. 

Turkey has entered what Çakmakcı calls “a new era of hyper-innovation” thanks to developments in climate and artificial intelligence. But he believes the country may struggle to attract foreign tech experts while also battling to retain its own home-grown innovators. 

“Highly skilled manpower has an extreme level of global mobility due to demand,” he says. “Competition to attract this profile is very strong and has been for many years.”

There is the need to improve the standing of Turkey’s research and higher education institutions to build productivity and deepen the skills pool, Çakmakcı says.

“Turkey cannot just import and acquire this capacity by attracting foreign direct investment or skilled human resources.”

Turkey has experienced a high level of migration of talented human resources over the past few years, Çakmakcı says, “so I do not see a strong probability that it will rank highly among the choices of professionals seeking better living conditions.”