Turkey's Development: The Role of Technology Transfer

Abstract

The policies of the Ottoman Empire and of its successor the republic of Turkey, have always considered technology transfer (TT) from abroad to be an important means for development. In late 18th century, the Ottoman Empire transferred some technology to improve its army. Contemporaneously there were attempts to transfer technology for building factories. In the Turkish Republic's early years, the government took TT and foreign investment issues very seriously. Based on successive five-year development plans in the ensuing 20 years Turkey transferred technology for many of its vital (state-owned) industries. In the last two decades, its private sector has led the way via joint-ventures turnkey contracts and or licensing. This paper discusses the role of TT in Turkey's economic development during each of the following five periods: (1) the Ottoman Empire (late 14th through early 20th century); (2) the Republic?s (formative) first 10years; (3) the pre WWII years 1933-1939; (4) the Cold War period 1945-1989 and finally; (5) the era of liberalization, privatization and globalization. The real-world facts assembled in this paper, and the results of fairly simple statistical analysis of hard data are pregnant with meaning for socio-economic science practitioners and researchers alike. Lastly, several analyses of potential use to planners are suggested.