Applications Open for 9th Chemical R&D Project Market

With approval from the Turkish Ministry of Commerce, the 9th edition of the "Chemical Substances and Products R&D Project Marketplace," organized by the Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB) and supported by TÜBİTAK, will be held this year. Application deadlines for the event, which were postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, have been extended to 9 October 2020. The Chemical R&D Project Marketplace, held regularly every year since 2011, aims to commercialize innovative and implementable ideas with strong R&D orientation in the chemical sector. The event will evaluate applications in 6 separate categories: "pharmaceuticals," "medical devices," "paints and adhesives," "plastics and rubber," "cosmetics, soap and cleaning products," and "basic chemicals." Winning project owners will receive total cash prizes of TRY 700,000, comprising TRY 600,000 in main awards and an additional TRY 100,000 special award for projects that are commercialized.

Chemical R&D Project Marketplace Award Ceremony on 21 November 2020

İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister, noting that the application and award ceremony dates for this year's competition have been postponed due to coronavirus impact, stated: "As İKMİB, we will hold the 9th edition of our 'Chemical R&D Project Marketplace' event, which we have been organizing since 2011. We had to postpone the event we planned for April due to the pandemic. In light of the latest assessments and developments in our country regarding the pandemic, we have extended the application deadline to 9 October 2020. We plan to hold the award ceremony on 21 November 2020, subject to further developments. To date, over 8 years we have received a total of 1,003 project applications and have awarded TRY 1,156,000 in cash prizes to project owners."

First prize TRY 50,000, second prize TRY 30,000, third prize TRY 20,000

Pelister, highlighting the wide participation from academics, industrialists, entrepreneurs, business people and students in the R&D Project Marketplace, said: "Our aim is to contribute to the dissemination of R&D and innovation culture and to increase high-value-added production and exports through university-industry-public-entrepreneur collaboration. For the 9th edition of our 'Chemical R&D Project Marketplace' event this year, we will accept applications in 6 separate categories. In each category, we will award TRY 50,000 for first place, TRY 30,000 for second place, and TRY 20,000 for third place. Additionally, to enable award-winning projects to contribute to our country's economy in the short term, we will provide a total additional award of TRY 100,000 to all projects that are commercialized within one year. Some of the projects that have won awards so far have been commercialized and produced important success stories. Development work continues for many of them. I believe that to become a brand and produce high-value-added goods, active participation in university-industry collaboration is essential. For this reason, as İKMİB, through our R&D Project Marketplace event we try to support both our students and professionals while bringing new products and projects to our sector. Therefore, we are looking for project applications that will contribute to the development of our sector and our country," Pelister concluded.