Information and communication technologies on the road to 2023

ICT, an acronym for Information and Communications Technologies, can be basically defined as all hardware, software and services regarding the creation, storage, access and management of information and data. Recently, this industry has become a prime attraction for investors and policy-makers. This increased interest can be traced back on its strategic location at the very core of innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. The rapid developments in Information and Communications Technologies since the 1970s resulted in an industry growth that reached $4.1 trillion in 2011. Turkey's industry is estimated to be worth over $30.3 billion. Our country is the 17th largest economy in the world. It holds more than one percent of both the global population and its economy, yet its share of the global ICT market stands at 0.75 percent. This difference is an indicator for the industry's growth potential in Turkey. The growth potential of the IT industry, which holds 0.4 percent of the global market share, is clearly higher when the sub-industries of the Turkish ICT market are evaluated as well..