Y?ld?z Tu?ba Kurtulu? Kara

Y?ld?z Tu?ba Kurtulu? Kara is a social entrepreneur and a senior international political economy expert. She is the current founder and president of the London-based Society 5.0 Institute. Throughout her career, she has played pivotal roles as a trade expert at the Ministry of Economy, Turkey and also represented the Istanbul Chamber of Industry in the national and international arena.

With a Master’s in Science in International Political Economy from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD in European Union and International Economic Relations from Ankara University, Dr Yildiz is an active participant in developing digital and sustainable business strategies for next-generation enterprises.

She is an expert in international trade relations and strategies and in creating sustainable business models. She has also functioned as the project contact point, helping the Twinning Manager of the Turkish Rail Sector Restructuring and Strengthening Project aiming to reorganize the rail sector in accordance with the EU Acquis, and to establish the necessary legislative and institutional framework.

As a consultant, she also worked in the World Bank-funded Marmara Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction (MEER) Project, where she was responsible for monitoring the implementation in real-time, coordinating relations between the Ministry of Health and the World Bank, providing early warnings to the task team leader on problems, providing Turkish authorities with timely technical advice, and procuring consultancy services, goods and works for the project.

Dr Yildiz was also a senior foreign trade specialist with the Ministry of Commerce, taking part in the Ministry’s efforts to increase our country’s exports in various fields, especially in the development of bilateral trade with American countries, logistics services in foreign trade, representation of our country before the World Trade Organization and G-20.

As a board member of Turkish American Association Ankara, she has actively contributed to redefining organisation strategy, leading the initiative, “Ambassadorial Perspectives Programme”, which is operating successfully since 2015.

She has also volunteered at various organisations for social causes like economic and women empowerment.

Society 5.o

She is the founder and president of the London-based Society 5.0 Institute, where she has been actively working on best practice examples at the international level regarding the vision of Society 5.0: a holistic digital transformation approach that offers compliance with Society 5.0 principles. Society 5.0 Institute is a social enterprise committed to fostering social innovations serving SDGs through the mission-oriented use of technology.

In a recent interview with Hilton Supra, she explained her vision relating to Society 5.0.

“Society 5.0. will follow the hunting, agricultural, industrial, and information societies. It achieves a high degree of convergence between virtual and physical space. Society 5.0. Institute is committed to improving our understanding of the new phase. We engage the foremost political, business, and other thought leaders of society to shape their agendas.”