Habertürk – Türkiye is likely to become a home to research and development labs for global tech companies in the near future, according German business software firm SAP’s Europe, Middle East and Africa head, Franck Cohen.
Talking to the press about the company’s third quarter earnings, Cohen told the Turkish daily Habertürk that Türkiye was in the top 3 fastest growing markets for the German company, which has operations in more than 130 countries. “We consider Türkiye in the top 3 for its potential as well.”, the SAP executive noted. “Our July announcement about setting up an R&D center in Teknopark Istanbul is a reflection of this. Türkiye stands out with its developing infrastructure and growing economy,” he said, expressing his belief that more multinational tech companies will follow SAP’s example of setting up R&D centers in Türkiye.
Known for its enterprise solutions, SAP will employ a research staff of 300 engineers at its Teknopark Istanbul R&D center, which will receive EUR 20 million of investment over the next 3 years. The Turkish facility will be a part of the company’s worldwide development centers (SAP Labs), currently located in 15 countries across the world.
Türkiye strongly supports research, development and innovation-related investments through its comprehensive investment incentive system that includes free land allocation, tax exemptions and reduced social security premiums for research staff.