The "How-to” of Technology Acquisition, Innovation and Entrepreneurship" Conference will take place on May 26-28, 2014 at the Hilton Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey.  This initiative is a practitioners exchange and learning series for the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region seeking to advance policy implementation by distilling operational lessons on the “how” of public support to technology acquisition, entrepreneurship and innovation-driven growth. It comprises a series of cross-regional Innovation Forums, Study Tours and Knowledge Notes for Bank client counterparts and experts/practitioners in the field to collaboratively work policy and program solutions for specific challenges leveraging knowledge from the latest research and working in thematic based groups.

This year's conference will be co-hosted by the Middle East and North Africa Finance and Private Sector Unit, the Turkey Country Unit, and the Innovation Technology and Entrepreneurship Unit of the World Bank under the theme Catalyzing Innovation: From Concepts to Commitments. The two-day conference will be followed by site visits of key Technology parks and centers of science and research in the Istanbul area organized by the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey (TTGV).