Turkey attaches great importance to smart cities

Turkey attaches great importance to smart cities, which offer high-quality air, zero-waste, fast communication and transportation, the industry and technology minister said on Friday.

"In addition to sustainable development goals, technology has great opportunities for people to live happily in cities," Mustafa Varank told Kartepe Summit 2019, organized under the theme of "Urbanization and Happy Cities," in the industrial province Kocaeli.

Research and development activities, and innovation are important for smarter cities, he underlined.

"According to the latest analysis, the innovations brought by smart cities will contribute $20 trillion to the global economy in the next 10 years," he said.

It means more of 27 Turkey-sized countries to join the global system, he added.

"Every new step in these technologies will give countries a significant global competitive advantage," he stressed and added: "We saw this opportunity and accelerated our studies in this field".

Turkey will conduct the smart city projects with supports of the central government and local institutions, he noted.

He said Industry and Technology Ministry signed a cooperation agreement with the Environment and Urbanization Ministry, and the municipality of Istanbul's Esenler district for establishing a smart city in an 8-million-square-meter (3-million-square-mile) area.

This project will be center for electric cars, autonomous vehicles, information technologies and software, he highlighted.

"We attach great importance to enterprises in smart cities field, we can become a key player in the $20-trillion market," he added.