Petrol Ofisi and İTÜ ARI Teknokent Join Forces

A significant step has been taken in combating the pandemic. Petrol Ofisi and İTÜ ARI Teknokent, one of the country's important entrepreneurship and innovation centres, have partnered in the fight against Covid19. This collaboration encompasses the development, production and distribution of work carried out within Turkey's coronavirus response efforts by İTÜ Çekirdek entrepreneurs, ranked in the top 5 among university entrepreneurship centres worldwide. İTÜ Çekirdek has issued a new call to entrepreneurs in the fight against Covid19, supporting entrepreneurs conducting research in the most needed areas: disinfectants, masks, protective clothing, intensive care unit equipment, equipment to improve environmental conditions, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, information technology applications affecting the pandemic, ventilators and similar fields. Petrol Ofisi is also supporting the initiative launched by İTÜ MAGNET FAB | TRİDİ, the digital manufacturing centre of İTÜ ARI Teknokent, which addresses requests from hospitals and doctors through www.destekbizden.org. In this process, conducted with the coordination of relevant official bodies, products developed according to needs—such as face shields, intubation boxes, PPE masks for healthcare personnel adapted from diving masks, protective suits and UVC light sterilization units for rooms and air—are being produced and distributed.

Petrol Ofisi CEO Selim Şiper stated, "Istanbul Technical University is one of the country's prestigious universities with international prestige, with a history approaching 250 years.

İTÜ Çekirdek, located within İTÜ ARI Teknokent, has to date carried out significant work in many fields, proven its technological power and capability, and ranks among the world's most important entrepreneurship centres. As Turkey's Company, we are honoured to partner with an important stakeholder like İTÜ ARI Teknokent in the development, production and distribution of materials and equipment to be directly used in Turkey's fight against coronavirus, alongside the support we have provided for Turkey's future during this challenging period. Our collaboration and support will continue in the periods ahead." İTÜ ARI Teknokent Board Chairman and Istanbul Technical University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca stated: "At Istanbul Technical University, in our Entrepreneurship Centre İTÜ Çekirdek, approximately three weeks ago, we launched the #FightCOVID19 call to entrepreneurs, saying 'Develop at İTÜ Çekirdek, Improve the World.' Since that day, entrepreneurs have shown considerable interest in every type of problem in this area. Among these exciting projects, there are wonderful entrepreneurial candidates concerning patients directly or indirectly affected by COVID19, healthcare workers in the field and millions trying to protect themselves from infection. More than 100 entrepreneur groups applied in the first phase, and we decided to accept 80 percent of them under the İTÜ Çekirdek scope, supporting entrepreneurs providing COVID19-related products and solutions alongside our other entrepreneurs. At precisely this time, Petrol Ofisi, one of the country's leading organisations, became our stakeholder, taking a visionary approach to support initiatives providing COVID19-related products and solutions and responding to our call by providing grants. We are pleased to join forces with Petrol Ofisi and to be able to provide more effective support to more entrepreneurs in this important struggle. We thank them greatly for supporting us and joining the İTÜ Çekirdek stakeholder ecosystem. During the COVID19 response process, the attention of all relevant investors and support from corporate companies are invaluable for bringing these initiatives to life. We await visionary institutions like Petrol Ofisi at İTÜ Çekirdek."