İSO AND ITU ARI TEKNOKENT WILL FIND “INDUSTRIALIST COACHES” FOR THE ENTREPRENEURS

i̇so and itu ari teknokent will find “industrialist coaches” for the entrepreneurs 1

İSO AND ITU ARI TEKNOKENT WILL FIND “INDUSTRIALIST COACHES” FOR THE ENTREPRENEURS

Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) and ITU ARI Teknokent have formed a strategic partnership in entrepreneurship under university-industry cooperation. ISO became the first trade organization in Turkey to be a principal stakeholder of ITU Seed, the incubation center that receives the most applications in Turkey.
This cooperation will strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Turkey, and will help to increase the number of companies focused on sustainable innovation. ISO and ITU ARI Teknokent are also leading the way in university-industry cooperation in Turkey with this partnership. Thanks to this strategic cooperation, young and creative entrepreneurs will regularly meet successful and experienced industrialists. In a way, ISO and ITU ARI Teknokent will light the way for, young entrepreneurs with a team of industrialist coaches.

ISO is paving the way for entrepreneurs
Erdal Bahçıvan, Chairman of the Board of ISO, stated that ISO is committed to developing and improving projects that are based on innovation and will contribute to Turkey’s exports, while saying “As the largest and most established chamber of industry in Turkey, we care more about education and university-industry cooperation. We act on the fact that entrepreneurship, global talent and innovation are crucial for tomorrow. It should be a national duty to promote entrepreneurship and place it at the center of the industry in our country, where patent applications per capita is one-thirtieth of that in Japan, Germany and South Korea.” Continuing that ITU Seed Entrepreneurship Ecosystem had a vital mission to bring together academics, mentors, entrepreneurships, industrialists and investors, Bahçıvan said:

“As of 2015, members of our chamber joined the jury panel for assessing entrepreneurship applications. This will continue with presenting ‘ISO Industrialist of the Future Award’ to an entrepreneur or entrepreneurs whom we will choose in the grand finals of ITU Seed’s ‘BigBang’ on November 14, 2015. Subsequently, we will act as a bridge between creative young entrepreneurs and successful, experienced industrialists. Alongside the entrepreneurs receiving the “ISO Industrialist of the Future Award”, we also bring together other entrepreneurs who are entitled to be in ITU Seed Ecosystem for a year under the acceleration program “ISO KOZA”. Thereby, we will provide a factory and production experience for our entrepreneurs by pairing them with industrialist coaches, and bring creative ideas to life with manufacturing knowledge and culture. In this way, we will help creative ideas emerge from their cocoon and fly like free butterflies. The ISO KOZA Initiative Acceleration Model receives a contribution of 500,000 TL from the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, and we will support our entrepreneurs as ‘mentors’ to improve their working strategy.”

The Target is 2023, Keywords are Entrepreneurship and Innovation

ITU President Professor Mehmet Karaca stated that ITU aims at being a leading research and entrepreneurship university by 2023, when the university will be celebrating its 250th year. Karaca continued:

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are crucial in our journey to 2023 goals. Sustaining ideas and investing entrepreneurs, ITU ARI Teknokent is of the most important mechanisms we have towards these goals. It is an organization which we are proud of, consisting of more than 200 R&D companies and more than 6500 employees. The accomplishments of ITU ARI Teknokent since its establishment include nurturing innovative companies that contribute to exports, and establishing entrepreneurship in Turkey. Today, in its 13th year, ITU ARI Teknokent is on a different track that spans producing new projects to improve the entrepreneurship ecosystem, trainings, improving international business networks and application of funds. ITU Seed, an ITU ARI Teknokent affiliate, has strategic importance in accomplishing this mission. Several projects were literally seeded here and many more is about to come. ITU ARI Teknokent’s partnership with ISO, one of the most influential networks in Turkish industry, will empower this great entrepreneurship ecosystem to set an example in university-industry partnerships and carry this relationship forward.”

The General Director of ITU ARI Teknokent, Kenan Çolpan highlighted the fact that ITU Seed’s exemplary presence in Turkey’s entrepreneurship ecosystem was reinforced with ISO’s support and said: “The support given by Turkey’s largest chamber of industry to ITU Seed sets an example in university-industry cooperation. ISO is a leading institution that does great things towards a vision to support entrepreneurship. I believe that this important cooperation will open many doors to our entrepreneurs. Looking back at 2001, when the first technology parks in Turkey were established, it is a fact that we are very young have much ground to cover. Today, there are almost 60 techno-cities in our country and most importantly they are expanding their influence day by day.”

Çolpan continued:

“We started ITU Seed in 2012 to work as a pre-incubation center and a competition for entrepreneurship. As ITU Seed, we support entrepreneurs of all ages who have an idea or project that has potential for commercialization. We are encouraging new ideas for industries through special categories for areas that have huge potential. In this context, we created the Cloud Information category which received great attention. This year’s “special” category is Automotive Technology. Entrepreneurs are able to apply to ITU Seed at different times each year. After pre-eliminations, a certain number of entrepreneurs are accepted to a 1 year process called Pre-Incubation. During this year, entrepreneurs attend a total of 150 hours of trainings on preparing business plans, marketing, and presentations from professionals and academics. Following the completion of these trainings, we organize a contest called Big Bang. Most of the 27 companies which have been established in ITU Seed in 3 years have significant export volumes now. The attention to ITU Seed is growing each year as well. We received 3900 applications this year alone, and over 6400 in 4 years. This year’s theme in ITU Seed is ‘Don’t Miss Out on the Future’. And on November 14, we will once again reward the companies that don’t miss out on the future in ITU Seed Big Bang.”