Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attended the opening program of the independent R&D center completed with the contributions of businessperson Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık at Fırat University in Elazığ. Touching upon Fırat University's success in the URAP general rankings, its second-place ranking in Turkey in the field of artificial intelligence in the Shanghai subject rankings, and its leadership in TÜBİTAK projects, Yılmaz stated that this momentum gained by universities in Anatolia is a source of pride for the future of the country.
Stating that being a society that produces technology plays a critical role in terms of independence and social welfare, Vice President Yılmaz said, "I congratulate you once again. Fırat University is a university that has managed to rank 16th in Turkey in the URAP 2025-26 general rankings and second in Turkey in the field of artificial intelligence in the 2026 Shanghai subject rankings. This picture is a clear indicator of the support provided by scientists and young researchers at universities to our country's technological goals. Fırat University submitted 785 applications in the 2nd term of 2023 for the TÜBİTAK University Students Research Projects Support Program, 403 of its projects were supported, and with this rate, it became the number one university in Turkey. We see that these numbers have increased in the following term as well. Distinguished participants, we are also expanding the opportunities that will carry the level reached by Fırat University in scientific studies and the efforts of our youth in project development even further," he said.
Underlining that in addition to university-industry cooperation, universities should break down their mental walls and work in an integrated manner with all segments of society, Yılmaz said, "We are especially proud that this institution of ours, which is a university in Eastern Anatolia, is showing these successes. This is important. It shows us that we are a great country and we have ambitious goals. We are not an ordinary nation, nor are we an ordinary state. We are also in a very special geography. In these new conditions that the world has reached, we are striving to walk toward new goals while maintaining our stability. We can only achieve this by mobilizing the energy of the entire country together. It cannot be done with the energy of only Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir. They are very valuable, but we cannot lead our country to its goals with the energy of only a few provinces. This is very important both in terms of justice and balanced distribution, in terms of eliminating regional imbalances, and for the maximum use of our country's total potential. It is also important in terms of social justice. There is a concept we call equal opportunity. Regardless of where they were born, what socioeconomic background they have, what ethnic group, sect, or belief they belong to, or which region of our country they live in, it is a fundamental mission of our state that all our children and youth have equal opportunity. We have to achieve this. We have to make an effort with the public and private sectors regarding this. The investments we make in education, health, and infrastructure actually gain meaning with this. We have to provide the opportunity. Whether or not to evaluate the opportunity is left to individual effort. We have nothing to do there. Our youth who will sit there will put in the effort and sweat. We are at the opening of those opportunities," he said.
Emphasizing that the ratio of Turkey's R&D expenditures to national income continues to increase and that the majority of these expenditures are realized through the private sector and quickly turn into added value, Yılmaz said, "We are talking about an independent R&D building that has been completed with the contributions of Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık and brought to our university. I believe this will also make significant contributions to our research ecosystem and our national technology initiative. Prof. Yasemin just underlined this beautifully while addressing the youth. She gave a message saying, 'Do not just consume technology, contribute to it, produce it.' I also see this as very important. Countries or human communities that only consume technology are doomed to be at the bottom of the hierarchy in the world. As long as you do not become a part of technology production, you can neither carry social welfare to where you want, nor can you be a truly independent country. Therefore, one of the most fundamental elements of both our independence and our social welfare is our ability to produce science and technology and turn this into added value. Of course, we cannot do everything. Naturally, others will do something too, we will trade, but we must definitely be in that race. In this respect, these centers are truly very, very valuable. We are talking about a center that serves on a 24/7 basis, has modern working conditions, and offers new opportunities to our youth and students. We also see the results of the work done. The 9 awards you received at TEKNOFEST, the first-place award received from our Presidency of Defense Industries, and our students' first-place ranking in Turkey in the 2026 AI Language Agents Competition make us all proud," he said.
Emphasizing that the research power of universities is extremely critical for Turkey to be a country that develops its own technologies, produces high added value, and has a say in the international arena, Yılmaz said, "Here, university-industry cooperation and universities working as an open system are very valuable. When we say university-industry cooperation, we actually mean cooperation with all social segments. Cooperation with the farmer, cooperation with civil society, cooperation with local government, cooperation with all social segments is very valuable. Added value actually proceeds from here. We are against closed universities. There may be physical walls around universities, we have no objection to that. If there is a need, let there be. But there should be no mental walls. A university should be an area that is open to different segments, listens to everyone, and develops collaborations. We believe that when it is like this, it will maximize social benefit. A cooperation with TUSAŞ has also started in this center. There are also collaborations with various industrial organizations such as Seza Çimento, AGESA, and Mega. These must continue to increase. These centers are very valuable not only with their contributions in the scientific sense but also with their contributions to our added value and development. Distinguished participants, our Fırat University is now a 52-year-old university, a deep-rooted university. I believe that with its R&D and production capacity, it will be one of our institutions that builds our much stronger tomorrows. We also attach great importance to R&D at the macro level. Our deputy shared some figures earlier. Our latest figure is 1.46. That is, we spend 1.46% of our national income on R&D. This was half a percent, around half a percent, a quarter of a century ago. We have come from 1.2 billion dollars to 20 billion dollars. More importantly, while there used to be public-weighted spending, currently 2/3 of our R&D spending comes from the private sector. Therefore, it is commercializing rapidly and contributing to our added value. We need to increase this," he said.
In addition to Vice President Yılmaz, the opening ceremony was attended by Elazığ Governor Numan Hatipoğlu, AK Party Elazığ Deputies Prof. Dr. Erol Keleş, Ejder Açıkkapı, Mahmut Rıdvan Nazırlı, MHP Elazığ Deputy Semih Işıkver, CHP Elazığ Deputy Gürsel Erol, Fırat University Rector Prof. Dr. Fahrettin Göktaş, Elazığ Mayor Şahin Şerifoğulları, AK Party Elazığ Provincial Chairman Sencer Selamnoğlu, Businessperson Prof. Dr. Yasemin Açık, Elazığ Commodity Exchange President Mehmet Ali Dumandağ, academics, and many students.
News Source: 12punto
