Teknopark İstanbul to Establish Its Own Investment Fund

Technopark Istanbul, an affiliate of the Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO), started 2022 at a fast pace as Turkey's Deep Technology Hub. Hosting deep-tech entrepreneurs, R&D engineers, corporate companies and universities, Technopark Istanbul will establish a 'venture capital investment fund' and directly support startups within its ecosystem. Since its establishment in 2010, Technopark Istanbul has implemented academy-industry-entrepreneur collaboration as a practical and exemplary model. As of 2022, it began hosting 408 companies, 2,623 national projects and more than 7,000 R&D engineers. Incubation Center: General Director of Technopark Istanbul Bilal Topçu, noting that through Cube Incubation they have enabled start-up projects to come to life in Turkey and the region's largest entrepreneurship center, stated that this year they aim to support all types of projects through a special investment fund they will create, independent of outside investors, thereby increasing the number of entrepreneurs. Distinguishing Itself with Nearly 3,000 Projects from Other Technoparkss Technopark Istanbul General Director Bilal Topçu stated that more than 2,500 domestic and national projects have been completed at Technopark Istanbul to date and that their institutional structure sets them apart from other technoparkss in Turkey: "Because our partners are SSB and İTO, we make an effort to accept projects within the scope of deep technology that have more contact with industry. While other technoparkss in Turkey are located within universities, we stand out with university buildings on our campus and partner universities. In the coming period, we are inviting other universities here as well. We work with many universities across Turkey on different projects. On the other hand, by bringing together Turkey's leading companies with entrepreneurs, we facilitate the conversion of their projects into sales, the scaling of their revenues, and the emergence of new projects," he said. Investment Volume Set Record Last Year Stating that they provide support to entrepreneurs in fields beyond defense industry, and that they host projects ranging from agriculture to textiles, education to biotechnology, cyber security to artificial intelligence, Bilal Topçu said: "In this way, we contribute to Turkey's economy and exports. Through these activities, Turkey is also strengthening in diplomacy. In 2021, a total of 12 of our companies received investment. Seven of our companies received TRY 50 million in investment at a valuation reaching approximately TRY 650 million. Among these were various software companies. Our campus facilities are currently at full capacity. For this reason, our work to expand the campus continues with our Phase 3 buildings. Within this year, we will put our new buildings into service to make room for our new entrepreneurs and new companies," he said.

Leading Technopark with 52 Patent-Holding Entrepreneurs Stating that among technoparkss, they won first place last year among developing 5 to 10-year-old technoparkss, Bilal Topçu said: "According to the published patent impact report, we have surpassed some of Turkey's established universities. We became the first Technopark hosting 52 patent-holding entrepreneurs in Turkey. This is a source of pride for us. I would like to thank our patent-holding entrepreneurs and companies from here. Additionally, we will continue our consulting and financial support on patent matters," he said. Hosting Asia Technoparkss Summit Recalling that they hosted the Asia Technoparkss Association Summit in 2017, Topçu said, "We also applied for 2023. We competed with Moscow but we won. In 2023, we will host the Asia Technoparkks Association Summit at Technopark Istanbul. We will be pleased to host this summit, which brings together Asia-based technology companies and technoparkss with more than 200 institutions," he said. Speaking about 2022 targets, Bilal Topçu continued: "We want to open our newly constructed facilities in the biotechnology field. In fact, we are currently receiving applications from America and Canada. Because access to clean rooms is not easy for either academics or entrepreneurs. We will provide this opportunity to start-ups. We plan to increase our capacity here; by the same amount again, we have over 100 entrepreneurs in cyber security and biotechnology. If you have ambitious projects, we are waiting for you all at the Cube Incubation Center. We also invite all our R&D companies to occupy offices at Technopark Istanbul. With our Beyoğlu Satellite Incubation Center, we will also be located in the center of Istanbul," he said.