Güven Sak, PhD - [Archive]

Turkey cannot even sweep CERN’s floors 30/11/2012 - Viewed 1732 times

Turkey has chosen to select between companies and persons. With this mentality, it cannot even sweep CERN’s floors.

I used to think that it was important only to diplomats, but the discussions about CERN membership have expanded my horizon. I now think that Turkey’s public officials should learn more about Turkey, visit the Organized Industrial Zones in Manisa and Bursa, take a walk in the Gebze Technopark, and have a lunch in these places when they first assume office.

They should first ask themselves, “what is the country in which I live?” There should not be a single public official unaware of the potential of his or her country. This is the very phenomenon of the alienation from the people’s values. A public official who is unaware of the potential of his or her country will not only make wrong decisions, but also will mislead the prime minister on a given issue, not out of bad intensions, but out of ignorance. You may be thinking, “Aren’t you done with the CERN issue already?” No, I am not.

First the basics: Turkey wants to remain an associate member to the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) rather than becoming a full member.

The interesting part of this story for me was a passage in a review published in Radikal the other day. It said, “It doesn’t seem possible for Turkish companies to succeed in CERN auctions. The only potential sectors Turkey can succeed in are services such as cleaning and catering.” Why? Because allegedly, Turkish firms do not have the capacity to engage in high-technology business.

First of all, this is wrong. Second, what is it with the inferiority complex? That complex leads to the acceptance of failure before trying, and to grumbling “we are a hopeless case.” This is what I was referring to when I claimed that officials were alienated from the people’s values. Despite my constant complaint that the shares of high-technology exports in total exports are 20 percent in Korea and 3 percent in Turkey, I haven’t given up hope on Turkey. I worry about the deterioration in the sophistication of exports, but I never doubt of Turkey’s economic potential.

Two machinery companies from Turkey, one from Istanbul and the other from Bursa, have won tenders opened for the CERN’s experiment of the century. Those questioning whether or not Turkey should seek for full membership in CERN may be unaware of this, but Turkey has a strong and machinery sector infrastructure that is open-to-development. Moreover, the sector is active across Turkey. The presence of sub-sectors of the machinery sector in a given region means that Turkey has the capacity to expand high-technology production throughout its territory. Country examples indicate that the production network that will enhance the sophistication of exports will advance based on the capability set of the machinery sector.

Turkey has to focus on enriching and deepening the machinery sector experience. From a holistic perspective, Turkey has to concentrate on enhancing the capability sets of companies and people. How? By triggering competition between companies, between universities, and between scientists for public support. There are two ways of doing this: distribute public funds via public officials as the selection authority or design a more market-friendly mechanism in which projects compete and independent bodies decide the winners. Turkey often has practiced the first option, which I think is the wrong thing to do. But it doesn’t have mechanisms to practice the second. For example, Turkey hasn’t yet contemplated establishing the “Fund of Funds”, a mechanism that will provide warranty for venture capital funds up to 50 percent of the risk they undertake let alone actually establishing it. CERN would have served as a mechanism for triggering competition, but now we are considering giving it up.

Turkey has chosen to select between companies and persons. This is how I see the CERN issue. With this mentality, Turkey cannot even sweep CERN’s floors.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 30.11.2012