Güven Sak, PhD - [Archive]

Switzerland is a shop on the main street 23/11/2012 - Viewed 2003 times

Switzerland gives and takes back the highest rate of brain drain in the world.

There are two types of countries in the world: those on the main street and those on a blind alley. Switzerland is in the first group and Turkey is somewhere in between. If you own a shop on the main street, you enjoy street traffic and high business volume. If you design an eye-catching display you can attract many window shoppers, some of whom may go into the shop and possibly buy something. It is a good thing to have a shop on the main street. And just like a shop on the main street, Switzerland is very attractive to international scientists. According to a study in 2011, 57 percent of the researchers working in Switzerland in the field of chemistry, biology, and material science were not born in Switzerland. I knew this was the case in the U.S. and it is the same in Switzerland. A healthy immigration policy is important for prosperity. Yet, Turkey doesn’t have any. Let me tell you what other items are missing.

Having skilled scientists is the key to high-technology production and exports. The shares of high-technology exports in total exports are 20 percent in Korea and just 2 percent in Turkey.

Just take a look at the numbers: as the share of high-technology exports in total exports increases, GDP per capita increases relatively. In the 1970s, Turkey’s GDP per capita was 20 percent that of the US. It is 25 percent that of the US today. This means that although Turkey changed the economic structure radically starting in the 1980s, the level of prosperity has been enhanced by 5 percentage points.

This is the very question that has occupied me lately: how can Turkey switch to high technology? It takes a skilled research team, to begin with. If you cannot train skilled researchers in your country, you have to import them. This is what Switzerland has done. Switzerland gives and takes back the highest rate of brain drain in the world. Scientists that have research experience in Switzerland are able to work in any other part of the world. For expert researchers, the laboratories of Swiss companies are like shops on the main street. With this advantage, Swiss companies benefit from the energy of the best researchers in field. Switzerland is famous not only for its cheese. It also is among the best in high-technology business.

Then, here is the million dollar question: How does Switzerland attract researchers? What encourages researchers to move to Switzerland? The answer is in a study titled Foreign Born Scientists: Mobility Patterns for 16 countries, released in May: scientists are attracted more by the prestige of institutions in the area of research, the quality of colleagues, and the synergy the research institution provides than they are attracted by fringe benefits, family benefits or quality of life. They prioritize professional benefits. What does this imply? It implies an innovative ecosystem, which is missing in Turkey.

Why is the innovative ecosystem missing in Turkey? I think the problem is cultural. Take the new Higher Education Committee draft bill, for instance. They are forcing universities to abide by a specific administrative pattern. It is the twenty-first century, and some people are insisting that they know the best and and are trying to impose their ideas and views on others. The best strategy to follow, however, is to set targets, devise support mechanisms and give universities the freedom to employ any tools they like. Turkey cannot foster the competition and innovation climate without a mechanism that will give tool independence to universities. Turkey cannot prosper wearing a monotype uniform.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 23.11.2012