We have been proudly contributing to the development of our country with our history of 160 years and in fall 2016 we published our Business to Society report that summarizes such contributions.

And now there is a new opportunity before us to reward the sustainability efforts of Turkey. As Siemens Turkey, by combining our sustainability strategy with our social responsibility initiatives, we made an application to the independent European Business Awards to become a “National Champion”. We completed the first phase of the process with success. Now if you would like to support Siemens Turkey at the public voting held individually in 34 countries, you may cast your vote until 1 March 2017, Wednesday.

As Siemens, we are celebrating our 160^th year in Turkey. Since 1856, we have not only been performing economic activities on these lands, but also contributing to the society in many different aspects.

The constantly-changing international business environment leads us towards a new mindset on growth and success. Companies now should have a vision of growth beyond traditional parameters such as increasing production and acquiring short-term financial revenue. They also need to consider the impact they create on the society and the environment. Our responsibility towards the society we live in is greater than ever.

Parameters that reveal the success of a company change constantly. The success of a business is no longer assessed by looking at its turnover or number of factories. To talk about real success, we need to look at the long-term contribution of a business to the country it operates in. Investors want to see the long-term contribution to make investments as well. Employees also want to see the real social contribution of their corporations to the world, the future, and children in a measurable way and to feel proud about it.

In accordance with this trend, I would like to share with you a project that we, as the Siemens Turkey family, are most excited about. In our 160^th year in Turkey, we decided to measure Siemens’ contribution to Turkey’s sustainable development in terms of quality and quantity. Based upon our experience and know-how, we demonstrated the contributions that our operations in Turkey have made to the sustainable development goals and social life of Turkey.

We released the report “Siemens Turkey – Business to Society” in September 2016. I am planning to share some details of the report soon, but for the moment you may reach the PDF version of the report at Download the Business to Society Report! Our report clearly displays how much contribution a company can make to social development. We hope it will act as an example for other companies.

Siemens, the company I have been working at for 40 years, is an innovative technology corporation that develops technological solutions for over 160 years to improve the quality of life for all people. And one of the key aspects in the establishment period of Siemens is communication. When our company was founded in Berlin in 1847, it was a leading brand in inventions on communication. For instance, though not directly a Siemens invention, success of the telegraph in its initial years also benefited from the innovative ideas of Siemens.

Communication is important to me not only in terms of Siemens, but also in my personal life. When I was a kid, my grandfather used to tell me stories about the means of communication in the past. I remember having listened to many stories on messages sent via pigeons released from high towers, mounted or on-foot messengers, and town criers. Therefore, communication has always been an enchanting subject to me since very young age.

The generation of our great grandparents told about news being announced in İstanbul by people called “town criers” and these people loudly read the sultan’s edicts on streets, crying out “Hear ye Hear ye!” This means of communication was first used by Mahmut II to establish communication between the administration and the public. Then it was extended to the economy by means of sellers in street markets. Certainly, not all news came from official sources. Even then, sources and quality of the news could sometimes be controversial, yet people did not drown in a sea of information as today.

In the modern world, we have discovered almost infinite opportunities for communication. With the advent of telephones, walkie-talkies, mobile phones, and now e-mails, we have discovered an unprecedented source and means of communication. Our children can send instant messages to each other, listen to their iPods, contact on Facebook, watch videos, and “do their homework” at the same time.

As today’s children can make online contact even before they learn to walk, scientists think the brain structure of future generations can evolve in a different way. Internet alone ensures that the biggest library in the world is at our fingertips.

In short, both the world and communication changed a lot since days of doves and messengers. This change carried to a brand-new age that we may call “age of information”. Let’s discuss the qualities of this age in the next post.

In 2016 we will celebrate Siemens’s 160 years presence in Turkey. The company was founded in 1847 in Germany and only 9 years after its foundation, started to operate in then ‘the Ottoman Empire’. And we know that everything started with a dream and vision at the beginning of this company which now operates around the world. Of course every entrepreneur sets off with a dream: To see that the entity it creates succeeds and to legate the enterprise/company to the next generation (i.e. children) and even to the generations beyond that. In other words, to create an enterprise that has a long lifespan. At this point, a phrase by Werner von Siemens, the founder of Siemens AG, comes to my mind: “I won’t sell the future of my company for a short-term profit.” But then, is it that easy? What should be the fundamental concerns for establishing a company with a long lifespan? Certainly, there are a number of concerns to be handled. However, I would summarize the most critical ones in the three hints series:

• Building trust in all stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders, etc.)
• Creating a “company spirit” and synchronizing it with the “zeitgeist” (spirit of the time)
• Doing what nobody else has done

You may, of course, say “Easier said than done! What should we consider while running this marathon in order to reach the goal?” I believe that the meaning of “building trust” is very clear, but it is vital that this principle is always kept in mind as a priority: If your way of doing business does not establish trust in the people you serve (i.e. your customers), it would be hard to see the next few years, let alone decades. Therefore, first of all, “trust” should be built in the people and the environment that you operate in, even though this may sometimes mean self-sacrifice.

Now that we have a reliable company and a reliable brand, what is next? Your company and brand should have a “spirit” that can be felt both inside and outside and that is constantly fed. Be it your employees or customers, this “spirit” should be clearly seen and felt by everyone working with you. The way to feed and grow the spirit, to keep it alive is to synchronize it with the “zeitgeist” and innovations. Awareness of your fundamental competencies and knowing what you are really good at should always remain, but with no fear of change and improvement of it in line with the zeitgeist and requirements of the time.

One does not need to be a clairvoyant to see that the future belongs not to the followers but to the pioneers. Therefore, one last thing I would like to emphasize is the “need to achieve something that has not been done before – to develop a brand-new product or business model.” There is one thing that I cannot underline enough: Should we create revolutionary innovations or evolutionary ones? Innovation is built by people – you, me, an engineering or international relations undergraduate, a conscious farmer who wants to use his land more efficiently, etc. If you are doing something that has not been done before, it means you are at the doorstep of a “revolution”. Countless people who want to have access to your product, service, solution or idea will be waiting at that door to carry you to the future. And remember that an enterprise, brand or company that has built trust, created its own spirit and fulfilled the requirements of its time will still have a “long, long way” to go. We should never forget that the same applies to our country, not only to companies or brands. Therefore, let’s all continue to work for long-term success, without ever losing faith in our country. (http://www.gelis.org/diary/ulkemize-guvenmek)

I am in San Francisco meeting young people – all in search for the future. Every conversation is about what he or she is working on ( to start a new company): A new project, invention or a new idea how to change the existing stage of everything and come up with something new.

Likewise, I am also meeting many engineers from all over the world. Some of those are from countries where their grandmothers predicted the future by looking into a cup of coffee. Here they know that the Future can not be predicted and they are all working on inventing it.

We announced Siemens Turkey’s first “Siemens Innovation Contest” on March 11, 2015. With this contest that we plan to organize every year from now on, we aim to encourage the young generation to think innovatively. I think the most distinctive feature of this contest is our aim to share Siemens’ innovation know-how directly with university students and to include these talented young people in Siemens innovation network. The young generation obviously needs to meet with the know-how and become a part of the global networks in this area. But before that, we should offer them certain conditions. The first of these is an unconstrained environment.
Turkey needs to take revolutionary steps in innovation and that’s why I write about this topic so often. We all know our potential, our young population, and the increasing level of education. But for the sake of progress, we should be “innovative” and do it in a “revolutionary” way. In order for the development of Turkey to be completed, we need to make progress in the field of innovation and this should be in “revolutionary innovation”, rather than “evolutionary innovation”. The first requirement to realize this is to encourage innovative thinking by offering the necessary conditions and creating an unconstrained environment. I think the greatest advantage I had in my 12 years in the United States was this unconstrained environment. No wonder that America is known as the ’starting point of innovations”. There is a reason for this: No one is criticized for coming up with an innovative, different idea; on the contrary, it is encouraged. They are always open to different ways of thinking and particularly encourage young people to do so. That’s what we need basically.
As Siemens, we will celebrate our 160th year in Turkey next year. A 160-year history in a country would be bestowed on very few institutions. We are aware of this and we are committed to ensuring the sustainability of our long history in Turkey. This can only be possible by transforming the advantages that Turkey has into values and our greatest advantage is the youth. We will continue to carry out many other initiatives like “Innovation Contest” to reveal their innovative aspects. We will provide young talents with an environment in which they can do more “research” than “development”; we will provide them with our knowledge and encourage them to think freely. I believe that the most significant step to be taken by Turkey towards development will emerge at this point. I will continue to write about innovation. I hope I will have the opportunity to share information about our young talents who participate in the Siemens Innovation Contest and whose ideas have been implemented. I believe in the youth. The future of our country will be designed by young generations who are open to development.
For detailed information about the contest: www.siemens.com.tr/innovationcontest

“In the fiscal year 2014, Siemens filed 4,300 patent applications, an increase of 9 percent over the previous year”, states Ersu Ablak within his article on Hurriyet Daily News, based on our relevant press release. A piece worth reading over how Siemens considers ‘innovation and R&D’.

While thinking about the celebration of the 167th year of our company on October 1, 2014, I considered the most fundamental factors that bring success to a company within the framework of the hot topic of “sustainability”. Yes, a company can fail to catch the future despite its remarkable successes today or it may go bankrupt today despite its bright and high-potential future plans. The secret to the art of entrepreneurship is the balance between the present and the future. The survival of a company must be ensured while performing successful operations today. This is surely not easy at all. It is not within everyone’s means to be able to always play this game in the highest league. The history of many successful companies clearly reveals this fact. Guaranteeing the future is always associated with financial and moral investments. These include investments in new technologies and products, new regional markets and sales channels, as well as investments in securing the customer portfolio, trust, new generations, people, and the environment. The most important factor behind all these investments is the responsibility of the company towards its customers, employees, society, and the environment.
There is no exact solution to guarantee the future of a company in an uncertain future. Strategic planning always includes a rational and an emotional element. The right path is understood later on. However, the costs for good or bad decisions are paid faster today, compared to a few years ago. At strategic decision stages, it is the entrepreneur’s call. He takes decisions deliberately by taking risks, and at the same time by assuming the responsibility of not risking everything. The most important conditions for continuous success are multidimensional thinking, seeing the big picture, and getting good grades. In this context, particularly the interests of all stakeholders should be considered (shareholders, customers, employees, and the environment).
For me, continuous success* is based on five factors:
• Flexibility
• Belief
• Consistency
• Striving
• Reliability

On the threshold of 2014, I hope you may find the time to think about what was important, meaningful and unforgettable to you in 2013. We live in a time when every day is full of action and we encounter many different things in our country, n our work life, and within ourselves. Incidents and situations emerge and end in such a short time that we need to be prepared for a new one before we can even understand the previous one.
As I think back on 2013, I have to admit that, in the face of incidents and situations that emerge and “become history” very fast, I am astounded, thinking “When does the future start?”
Today, 2013 becomes history and the future makes a new start with 2014.
I wish you and your loved ones a year in which all wishes, particularly those of health and happiness, come true.

Innovation brings many key aspects to a country, it contributes to the long-term growth, provides employment and ensures that the country becomes or remains competitive. I believe profoundly, that as long as we have responsible innovation, the world will continue to advance. However the aspect of”The New” brings also culturally a certain skepticism with it. As an example the word”NEW” in English derives from the Latin word” Novitas” which also means”Strange”. It is maybe for this reason not surprising, that many societies feel more comfortable to develop an idea and make it better (evolutionary) vs. nurturing and embracing new innovation (revolutionary).

But what are the key elements or the grammar of evolution to ensure that innovation evolves? Here are 3 hints which are based on a discussion from Dr von Pierer and Dr. von Oetinger in the book ”Das Neue”.

The key elements to nurture innovation are:

1. A free spirit which, when exposed to global perspectives, is creative in producing original and diverse ideas .
2. We need a ” Wood – Barn” which is similar to what jazz musicians used to experiment and express themselves freely without judgment (a virtual Burn).
3. We need to be fully convinced and supportive of the power of creativity.