TİM İnoSuit Meeting Held at EİB

TİM İnoSuit Meeting Held at Aegean Exporters Associations The İnoSuit - Innovation-Focused Mentoring Program meeting on Corporate Innovation Management in Izmir, organized under the scope of the program conducted by Turkish Exporters Council, which focuses on R&D, innovation, design and branding activities aimed at increasing Turkey's value-added exports, was held at the Aegean Exporters Associations.  

Turkey enters top 50 most innovative countries for the first time

In his opening remarks, TİM Board Member and TİM Innovation Committee Member Birol Celep emphasized that Turkey succeeded in entering the top 50 most innovative countries for the first time by ranking 41st in the Global Innovation Index in 2021. "Of course, 'Innovation Development Programs' play a significant role in this success. With the collective wisdom created by all our stakeholders, we are taking stronger steps toward the future. Our İnoSuit Program, which started in 2016 as the Turkish Exporters Council, aimed to increase our country's export power with high value-added production and pursue an original and scientific approach. We matched our universities and academics with expertise in 'innovation management' and university-industry cooperation in our country with exporter companies aiming to establish 'corporate innovation systems.'" he explained.

612 company applications from 52 provinces

Celep stated, "Our program is structured in 4 tracks according to company scale, export potential, value-added product focus and innovation capacity: İnoSuit Preparation, İnoSuit General, Value-Added Focused İnoSuit and İnoSuit Export Champions. With the new program, the support ratio of TİM and Exporters Associations increased from 25% to 50%. Since November 2016, 12 periods have started. We received a total of 612 company applications from 52 different provinces. Since the beginning of the program, we have received 988 mentor applications from 144 universities located in 63 different provinces." he noted.  

54 company applications received from Aegean Exporters Associations

Birol Celep, announcing that with 9 completed periods, a total of 129 companies located in 30 different provinces and 60 mentors from 38 universities in 18 different provinces successfully completed the program, continued as follows: "In the 9 completed periods, a total of 25,520 hours of mentoring services were provided. From the beginning of the program to now, we received 62 company applications from Izmir, and 48 companies were matched. Looking at the Aegean Exporters Associations; we received 54 company applications, 23 companies were matched and 13 companies successfully completed the program. The highest number of applications from Aegean Exporters Associations member companies came from the wood and forest products and machinery and parts sectors. I also directed my own company to the İnoSuit Program and we successfully completed two periods. During the program, 75 mentor applications were received from Izmir. 35 mentors were matched."  

Innovation expenditure ratio to turnover tripled

Celep noted that with the İnoSuit Program, the innovation ecosystem in Turkey was established, and through experience-sharing meetings, innovation-focused mentors from across Turkey were brought together. "Additionally, innovation ecosystems were created in some Anatolian provinces such as Tokat. Thanks to this system, participation from Anatolia increased. Through the program, one company tripled the ratio of innovation expenditure to turnover. One company increased the ratio of budget provided from grants to total innovation expenditure to 50%. One company doubled the number of employees actively participating in innovation projects, increasing it to 300. The number of product development projects conducted jointly with external stakeholders doubled at one company." Birol Celep added, "The number of innovative ideas of companies that completed the program, the number of ideas transformed from innovative ideas to projects, the number of successfully completed innovation projects, the high number of company employees participating in innovation activities and idea generation processes, the number of employees actively participating in innovation projects, the number of product development projects conducted jointly with external stakeholders, the number of grant-supported innovation projects, the ratio of budget provided from grants to total innovation expenditure, the ratio of innovation expenditure to turnover, the ratio of new product sales to turnover, the ratio of innovation income to innovation expenditure, and the number of patents have all recorded significant momentum. We can state this very clearly."

Expecting strong participation

Celep stated, "We can increase the kilogram price of our exports, which is at approximately 1.5 dollars on average, to 3 dollars and above through Innovation, R&D and Design. The share of value-added product exports in Turkey's exports is at the 4% level. We need to rapidly increase this ratio to 25%. Innovation is not limited to innovation engineers, scientists or new product development departments. Innovation can be done through processes as well. The difference and change we mention can be in a groundbreaking dimension or in daily improvements. In the new period, we expect strong participation of our companies in the 'İnoSuit - Innovation-Focused Mentoring Project.'" he stated. Dr. Merih Pasin, Academic Coordinator of the İnoSuit Program, who made presentations on corporate innovation management and İnoSuit, noted that innovation and R&D are different concepts and continued as follows: "In the İnoSuit Program, we implement six-dimensional corporate innovation management; the strategic infrastructure of innovation, the governance infrastructure of innovation, the cultural infrastructure of innovation, project development from idea to implementation, open innovation and collaborations, innovation financing and evaluation can be listed. As a result, sustainable innovation performance emerges." she said. Gülçin Yetkin from the TİM Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Division also made a presentation on the Administrative and Financial Processes of the Focused İnoSuit Program. Yalçın YÜR, OPEX Manager of Jantsa, and İlknur TOK, Quality Assurance and Management Systems Manager of Jantsa, who participated in the Focused İnoSuit Program, shared their company experiences. YÜR stated that Jantsa is currently in the Export Champions track and has been participating in the İnoSuit Program for 11 months, noting that their innovation strategies include four main headings: technology management, open innovation management, corporate innovation system, organizational culture and human capital management. İlknur TOK, Quality Assurance and Management Systems Manager of Jantsa, explaining that they created the Inoex working group with the İnoSuit Program, described how with the İnoSuit Program they divided all projects into operational and innovative categories, implemented department workshops, critical problem pool, post-action presentations, solution workshops, and focused work with 7 Projects, 7 Project Leaders and 50 team members. Dilek ÇETİN TULAZOĞLU, R&D Innovation Division Manager of Kent Kart, continuing its work in the Value-Added Focused İnoSuit track and in its second period, and Sezai ÇAM, Deputy General Manager of Kent Kart Technical, were among the other companies in the experience-sharing section. Deputy General Manager of Kent Kart Technical Sezai ÇAM described their company's brand, strategy, innovation, quality and security standards, process, human resources, capacity and financing processes. Assoc. Dr. Mehmet GENÇER from Izmir University of Economics, a mentor in the İnoSuit Program, who made a presentation on Digital Transformation and Innovation Interaction, listed the dimensions of Izmir University of Economics's digital transformation scale as customer relations and marketing operations, cybersecurity, data management tools, external environment, human resources, investment and financial operations, logistics and supply chain operations, organizational, partnerships and stakeholders, product development process, production operations, strategy, technological resources and top management.