President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday announced a new initiative to expand Türkiye's pool of highly skilled technology researchers, targeting the training of around 3,000 specialists over five years as the country seeks to strengthen its capabilities in critical fields.
The program will initially admit 550 doctoral students through a centralized selection process, with participants to pursue their studies at 20 of Türkiye's research universities.
Training will concentrate on areas viewed as increasingly important for Türkiye's technological competitiveness, particularly artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, semiconductor technologies and advanced computing.
The initiative is expected to bring around 3,000 young researchers into the country's science and technology ecosystem by the end of the five-year period.
Erdoğan presented the program as part of Türkiye's broader effort to develop the skilled workforce needed to design and produce advanced technologies domestically and compete internationally.
