The Science and Technology Parks and their Role in Supporting Digital Transformation of the Turkish Economy

Turkey has a large, diversified and vibrant economy. Digitalization has played a key role in Turkish economy during the last two decades. The country has started to reap the benefits of digitalization. It ranked 41st among 132 countries in 2021 in terms of innovation1 . Since 2020, 5 startups from Turkey reached unicorn status in terms of market value2 . In Turkey, a key component in digital transformation is Science and Technology Parks (STPs) and the country has invested heavily through the STPs to Turkey’s digital transformation journey during the last two decades. In my paper I focus on the role of STPs in digitalization of Turkish economy and explain their development and contribution to this journey.