Türkiye’s AI Ecosystem: Key Actors, Research Institutes, Startups, and Collaborations

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of Türkiye’s artificial intelligence (AI)ecosystem over the past five years (2020–2025). It first situates AI within the national policyframework, including the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and its 2024–2025 ActionPlan, to outline strategic priorities for talent, data and computing infrastructure, regulation, and international cooperation. It then maps the principal institutional actors: the Ministry ofIndustry and Technology, TÜBİTAK and the BİLGEM Artificial Intelligence Institute, sectoral regulators, and the defense cluster, clarifying their complementary roles in funding,coordination, standard-setting, and application. The academic backbone is described throughthe rapid expansion of AI degree programs, research labs, and EU-linked projects that cultivatea growing talent pipeline. The chapter also surveys a rising startup landscape, highlightingenterprise AI firms and vertical applications (e.g., retail computer vision, industrial AI,conversational AI) and the support structures of technoparks, accelerators, and venturecapital. National collaborations (co-development labs, public-private projects) andinternational linkages (Horizon Europe, EDIH, GPAI) are examined as key engines ofknowledge transfer, diffusion, and alignment with global norms. In comparative perspective,Türkiye is an emergent regional player: not yet top-tier in private investment volumes, but increasingly organized, capability-rich, and globally connected. The concluding sectionsynthesizes achievements and open challenges: scaling compute and data resources,broadening high-quality datasets, increasing late-stage finance, and ensuring trustworthy,human-centric AI, offering a grounded view of Türkiye’s trajectory from planning to execution.