We, as Siemens have been operating in Turkey for more than 160 years, which is astonishingly a long time. We have always planned for a long-term presence in Turkey and worked accordingly. Also based our sustainability approach on this framework. Prior to the launch out of a project, we always contemplate on how to develop it in the long run; since rather than one-time support, initiating a project, growing it, taking it to different levels, improving its scope and value are important to us. Siemens Opera Contest that has become a traditional event is a good example to this approach; it started from scratch and within these 21 years it touched and continues to touch the lives of tens of opera singers who performed on world stages.

While launching and continuing the project, our premise has always been this: There are many talented young people and artists in Turkey. Trying to create opportunities for these young people on various platforms has been our main source of motivation and enthusiasm.

I believe that the phenomenon of “brand” is another important aspect. Building a brand and sustaining its reputation requires great time and effort. When these young opera singers successfully represent Turkey abroad, they are actually performing on behalf of Turkey and add great value to the brand of Turkey.

In my now more than 43 years with Siemens, I worked in 7 different countries. Every country has its dynamics and every country has unique musical, economic, and political rhythms. But what has always fascinated me the most is how different instruments may bring people together. These instruments can sometimes be sports, sometimes cuisines or art. They immediately interfere and open the doors of communication, especially when experts or authorities feel they are in a deadlock.

Lucky us, we have been doing this for 21 years. This reminds me of the motto “Ars longa, vita brevis”. Cited from Hippocrates and translated into Latin, this phrase means “art is long, life is short”. Actually, Hippocrates said these words in the context of medicine, which he considered to be an art, and added: “opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgement difficult”.

In other words, expertise on a certain topic, craft or art requires a lot of time, effort and endeavor. Compared to this trouble, our life is quite short. Yet, there is another side to the medallion: An art earned by giving your lifetime to it makes you immortal in the end. Isn’t this already the dream of an artist?

When I think about Siemens Opera Contest, I do not see a standardized event that has never changed in 21 years. On the contrary, I see a snowball that grows layer by layer, developed with experience, and gains value with the excitement and enthusiasm of young people. And I thank everyone involved for their contribution.

Let Tchaikovsky say the final words: “Music is indeed the most beautiful of all Heaven’s gifts to humanity wandering in the darkness. Only music can calm, enlighten, and still our souls. Music is a true friend, refuge, and comforter, makes life worth living. Perhaps there will be no music in heaven. Well then, let us give our mortal life to it as long as it lasts.”

Today is 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day – one of the most exciting and happy days for our nation. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, dedicated the very day that the Turkish Grand National Assembly was established to children and this is a significant example of his vision. It is also a very valuable to us, because just as the Assembly laid the foundations of our Republic, children shape the world and steer the future.

To understand what the world will be like in the future, we need to look at today’s children. What they do, what they are interested in, what games mean to them… These indicate how the world will be like tomorrow. And the future comes in a hurry.

Today’s children cannot imagine a world without the concepts, technologies and devices that previous generations could not even dream of. They grow up and develop with technology. Their perspectives, systems of thought, approaches are fed by the infinite opportunities of technology, especially the digital technology. That is why they can cross borders a lot more easily. When the opportunities of digitalization are combined with their powerful imagination, great works and inventions emerge. Writing codes, developing robots, inventing things, creating their own online media are natural parts of their lives.

As adults, our responsibility is to support such conscious and productive children. That is why I am very enthusiastic and proud of our projects aiming to help children confidently prepare for the future. For instance, our employees support the robotics and mechatronics initiatives at Darüşşafaka High School and encourage young students to think more innovatively. We have provided voluntary engineering support to Darüşşafaka Robotics Club, namely Sultans of Turkey, for a robot that won the FRC Robotics Competition in the USA. In addition, our engineers at Siemens Turkey give coding trainings to the female students at Darüşşafaka and support them in their career paths as voluntary mentors.

Encouraging more female students to study engineering is another initiative that we adopt and put great emphasis on. With the Female Engineers Project held in cooperation with our Diversity Council and Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), our female engineers offer mentoring to young female engineering students to support their theoretical knowledge with experience and practice.

We attach great importance to the projects for the children and young individuals, because we know that we need to take responsibility for all children to build a better world. We need to support them and help especially those with fewer means to confidently preparefor the future. I hope such initiatives continue in a larger scale not only at Siemens Turkey, but also in the business world and throughout the country.

Happy 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day to all children!

Today, we frequently discuss the role of new digital technologies in transforming almost all industries and current ways of doing business by creating new areas of practice. Among these, one of the most interesting to me is healthcare, because it’s focus is directly related to improving the quality of human life. Many game-changing new innovations are expected in this area and we have already started to see the first examples of these. Let’s take a look at the benefits that Siemens Digital Twin technology, which we attach great importance to, offers to healthcare.

First of all, let me briefly explain what Digital Twin means. The example of digital twin technology is a paradigm or model of new trends where sophisticated SW and competences in data analytics with AI can improve the quality of our life. Siemens Digital Twin technology ensures building a virtual version of a factory before physical construction and offers a simulation of all production phase. Thus, research, testing and production processes of companies and institutions become a lot faster, more efficient and economical. All the digitalization projects in which we employed Digital Twin technology have so far provided great efficiency and savings in the business processes of our stakeholders. Examples of these are available in Turkey in various sectors. 

In addition to accelerating and facilitating processes, Digital Twin also enables boutique production and customization. Obviously, the concept of “customization” becomes more and more important. Customized solutions are not only about preferences or tastes; they can be of vital importance in areas such as healthcare. Our expertise in digitalization and our Digital Twin technology reinforce our practices in this area and create a base for future applications in healthcare. And future possibilities in healthcare truly thrill us.

Perhaps very soon, we will be able to generate digital twins of “customized” organs such as the heart and lungs, or of tissues and even individual cells. Such simulations will help healthcare professionals to understand how different individuals react to different treatments. Operations will first be performed on digital twins and anything that might go wrong will be identified in advance. Here the gathering and analysis of data with new AI applications plays a crucial role in all aspects of our life. 

We all know that early diagnosis and early monitoring of any precursors that precede healthcare issues is of essence. Digital twin will provide significant benefits in this area as well. Through sensors, we can continuously send data to our digital twin on the condition of our organs and thus ensure early diagnosis of a potential health problem. For instance, metastases that may occur in the post-treatment process of cancer patients can be very rapidly identified with this method. And ultimately, totally customized medical care can be offered through affordable and almost real-time models to help diagnosis and treatment.

An example to the possible transformational impact of digital technologies on the healthcare industry is Siemens Healthineers Digital Heart Twin. Siemens Healthineers developed an artificial intelligence platform to generate a 3D physical structure of the heart by using its electrical and physical data. Aiming to support surgeons in treatment plans, the digital heart twin can serve as a vehicle to use artificial intelligence in diagnosis and treatment. 3D-printed digitally-intelligent heart twin enables simulations so as to help doctors run some tests before surgery. That means a cardiologist, before entering the OR, can simulate and monitor on his computer screen how the patient with congestive heart failure reacts to the treatment; by means of placing the electrodes of a pacemaker on the 3D digital heart twin that simulates the patient’s heart cells as well as its electrical and physical qualities.

Although the Digital Twin technology is in a development stage in the healthcare industry, it has a great potential to offer significant new developments and treatments in a very short time. And, of course, widespread adoption of this technology in the industry means many opportunities for both the patients and the healthcare professionals in terms of improving the quality of life.

2019 is only a few days away. I believe that every year-end is an important opportunity to look back and evaluate past actions, to take a look at the roadmap, and to determine the next steps.

The year we are leaving behind has been economically and politically challenging both for Turkey and for the world. Yes, it wasn’t an easy year, but as a “Turkish company with German roots” that has been operating in Turkey for 162 years, we continue to take firm steps with the trust and love we have for our country. As in previous years, we implemented many projects that contribute to the Turkish economy in 2018 and we put our signature under leading investments in our areas of operation.

2018 has also been important in terms of the development of the relations between Germany and Turkey. Since the launch of our operations in Turkey in 1856, we, as Siemens, have always took part in large-scale projects and firsts, while also playing an active role in Germany-Turkey relations. Today, we continue to pay attention to fulfilling our duties to reinforce the ties between the two countries.

The cooperation between Turkey and Germany is based upon strong economic foundations and has a huge potential for growth. I am very happy to see that following a short period of problems, relations have recently reached a much better point. For instance, earlier this year, Siemens AG CEO Joe Kaeser visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In April, we had the opportunity to visit Siemens Training Center in Berlin together with Mr. Berat Albayrak, then Minister of Energy and today’s Minister of Treasury and Finance. During this visit, he stated that “Germany is an indispensable partner for Turkey”.

The best proof of this statement was the BRICA Summit held in İstanbul, hosted by the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) with support from Siemens Turkey. Many world leaders came together in İstanbul for the BRICA Summit. We are preparing to provide innovative and digital technologies to the projects to be implemented within this scope in the coming period. By supporting successful, open, and fair international cooperation, we will continue to contribute to our country.

Yes, 2018 has been a challenging year not only for our country, but for the whole world. 2019 will also bring along its own challenges. However, let me tell you this: During my 40 years at Siemens, I have worked in seven different countries and faced many challenges and crises. Throughout this time, I have experienced how important it is to think in the long term, to cooperate, and to treasure people. I believe that we have successfully adopted this approach at Siemens Turkey by focusing on long-term plans. Within these 162 years, we have always believed in our country through thick and thin. We know very well that Turkey also trusts in Siemens.

With these positive feelings and opinions, I can’t wait to achieve many more successes in 2019 with the power of trust and love.

May 2019 bring you the best of everything.

Happy New Year!

As Siemens, we celebrated our 160th anniversary in Turkey last year. Through these 160 years, we have added value to our country in terms of products, technology, and human resources. I am both proud and pleased of saying that these values continue to exist.

In parallel with these values, there is a topic that we care very much for, in fact, not only for people, but for all living things: the Earth. Every work we do and every project we accomplish aims to make the world a better and a more livable place for new generations and all living things. If the world does not exist, neither shall we. For this reason, we decided to create a memorial forest that would symbolize the contributions we have made to the planet so far and that would be the greatest investment in the future. On Friday, April 7th, we gathered in İzmir / Seferihisar for this purpose.

I wholeheartedly believe that Siemens Turkey 160th Anniversary Memorial Forest that we planted in cooperation with the Aegean Forest Foundation is a very important project. I think this forest will also provide a valuable contribution to our goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2023, i.e. the 100th anniversary of our Republic, as we have stated in our Business to Society Report in 2016.

I would like to once again thank the Aegean Forest Foundation and all authorities and Siemens employees for supporting the creation of the 160th Anniversary Memorial Forest. 5,000 saplings that we planted in Seferihisar, a symbol of environmentalism, naturalness, peace, and tranquility, will light the way to the future as well.

Today is March 8th, International Women’s Day.

After taking a look at last year’s blog post on International Women’s Day, I regret to see that the major problems I mentioned a year ago still continue, even in an augmented manner. Although society’s awareness on “violence against women” is increasing, we still have a long way to go. Today, half of our 70-million population are women. Naturally, it is impossible for a society to improve by developing only one half and neglecting the other. Especially if the neglected half is the most important actor in raising the children, i.e. our future, such improvement becomes even harder. Therefore, we need to take steps that truly create value and benefit. And we need to do it not only as individuals, but also as corporations.

Sustainability is a key component that makes Siemens what it is. We attach great importance to benefiting from innovative ideas created through diverse cultures and mindsets in all of our corporate principles and operations. Today, in parallel with the extraordinary increase in the means of communication, we are facing more severe problems that need to be solved. One of the problems to be solved is finding ways to expand and reinforce women representation in the business world. We, as Siemens Turkey, are proud to have an active “Diversity Council” that shares the same goal. We have also been one of the first companies to sign the “Business Against Domestic Violence Policy Development and Implementation Guide” in Turkey. But is that enough? Of course not. We pay attention to every initiative in this regard and we will continue our efforts to create a difference.

On this year’s March 8th we wanted to make an announcement that is really meaningful to us. As a technology and engineering company, we attach great importance to increasing the number of female engineers. Therefore, we are launching a scholarship program with Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), with whom we have cooperated in various projects so far. Within the scope of this program, we make donations to meet year-long educational expenses of young women studying engineering to get a BSc or MSc degree. Success should be supported and we are determined to contribute to increasing the number of successful female engineers.

International Women’s Day is a celebration of women’s labor, freedom, and the value they generate for life itself. We are more than happy to celebrate this day with an announcement that focuses on social contribution. Happy International Women’s Day!

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.

The week of May 10-16 is acknowledged as Disabled People Week around the world. I believe that this week is an important opportunity to work on awareness-raising practices. Our responsibility as a company that adopts diversity as one of its most important values should be to extend this awareness throughout our lives and continue to undertake individual and institutional efforts to make sure that people with disabilities are included in every aspect of life. One of our successful initiatives in this regard is “The Wind and The Fisherman” book, prepared with the contribution of our Wind Power and Renewables Department. The online version of this book is prepared for visually and hearing-impaired individuals and thus continues to reach many children in Turkey and raise awareness. (You can reach the online version of “The Wind and the Fisherman” at: http://www.ruzgarvebalikci.com/en/)

According to the UN data, there are about 500 million disabled people globally. The Turkish Statistical Institute states that 12.29% of the population have disabilities. Congenital or acquired disabilities certainly affect the lives of individuals, but it is our responsibility to encourage those individuals to participate in social life. I wholeheartedly believe that every individual can make a difference with his/her owned skills and these differences add value to both individuals and societies in the form of new solutions and new perspectives.

Therefore, I would like to remind everyone once again of our responsibility and I would like to thank all of our disabled colleagues at Siemens for their valuable contributions to our company.

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.