The 6^th High Council Meeting (HCM) of the D-8 Technology Transfer and Exchange Network (D-8 TTEN) was held as hybrid by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) on 14^th December, 2021.

The 6^th HCM Meeting was chaired by the President of TUBITAK, Prof. Hasan Mandal and attended by the officials of TUBITAK, the Secretary-General of D-8 and his delegation, officials of the D-8 TTEN Secretariat in the Islamic Republic of Iran, representatives of the relevant institutions and authorities of the D-8 Member States.

The meeting started with the opening statement of the Chairman, the President of TUBITAK, Prof. Hasan Mandal and opening remarks of the D-8 Secretary-General, His Excellency Ambassador Dato’ Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Mandal stressed that they are pleased with the enactment of the D-8 Roadmap for 2020-2030 and to lead initiatives related to D-8 TTEN with a strong emphasis on promoting development through capacity building and technology transfer.

Prof. Mandal also said, “We are in a period where the aims of D-8 TTEN continue to gain importance as we intensify with both regional and global challenges including the pandemic and climate change. Today’s realities require coordinated cooperation within the framework of a common approach, and more importantly, doing business together.

On his part, the D-8 Secretary-General emphasized that key role of the latest technological developments that the fourth industrial revolution and emerging technologies such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics and additive manufacturing are spurring the development of new production techniques and business models that will fundamentally transform production.

He also mentioned that the D-8 is giving importance to science, technology and innovation in the activities of the Organization as the main source of future economic growth and it is difficult to achieve sustainable economic growth and development without integrating new and emerging technologies into our scheme of things.

The progress report on activities of the D-8 TTEN Secretariat was also presented by the Deputy Secretary of the D-8 TTEN Secretariat in the meeting.

The meeting continued with review of the decisions of previous meetings and statements and presentations of the representatives of the D-8 Member States on activities of science, technology and innovation and developments and success stories of their respected countries. Furthermore, the presentation on D-8 Joint Funding Initiative, aims to further develop existing cooperation among the D-8 countries by promoting and enabling effective collaboration in science, technology and innovation, was also made by the representatives of TUBITAK.

The participants agreed on the importance of cooperation in information and experience sharing among relevant Ministries, institutions and authorizations of the D-8 Member States regarding the activities in science, technology and research.

The meeting ended with closing remarks by the Chairman.

The D-8 Technology Transfer and Exchange Network (D-8 TTEN) is an international network to develop technology cooperation among D-8 Member Countries with the basic aim to boost and manage all kinds of technology cooperation.