Arlington, VA – The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to support the transformation of the city’s digital infrastructure. USTDA’s grant will fund technical assistance to expand Istanbul’s data center and establish an Analytics Center of Excellence (ACoE).
“USTDA’s partnership with Istanbul will support data-driven policy making and help the city meet the data management needs of tomorrow,” said Todd Abrajano, USTDA’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of Agency. “Under our U.S.-Turkey Next Generation Cities Initiative, USTDA’s support for this project will create opportunities for U.S. companies to partner with Istanbul and develop innovative smart city solutions and state-of-the-art digital infrastructure.”
USTDA’s technical assistance will transform Istanbul’s capacity for data-driven policymaking, allowing the municipality to deliver enhanced city services and meet its growing data management needs. The ACoE will allow Istanbul to streamline and cultivate big-data and data analytic skills among employees across municipal departments. This project will complement and build on USTDA’s previous grant to support the transformation of Istanbul’s traffic flow and transportation network.
“The U.S. Mission to Turkey is proud to partner with the city of Istanbul as they transform their data management and digital infrastructure,” said U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David M. Satterfield. “The U.S. Trade and Development Agency’s continued support and commitment to smart cities development in Turkey helps our Turkish partners transform their cities to meet the needs of citizens, anticipate future challenges and develop innovative solutions.”
“I find it very valuable that such cooperation can be established and maintained, especially during the current pandemic,” said Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. “I hope this project, to be carried out under the roof of the Municipality, sets an example for digital transformation in cities all over the world. I look forward to undertaking many more projects and successful collaborations with USTDA in the near future. I wholeheartedly believe that this Istanbul digital transformation project will be an example and a leading project in the field of innovative and technological transformations of cities.”
Since 1992, USTDA has funded more than 135 activities in Turkey. This project advances USTDA’s U.S.-Turkey Next Generation Cities Initiative.
U.S. businesses interested in submitting proposals for the USTDA-funded technical assistance should visit https://ustda.gov/work/bid-on-an-overseas-project/.
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