Chemistry R&D Project Market Awards Announced

9th Chemistry R&D Project Market Awards TRY 600,000 in Prizes The "9th Chemistry R&D Project Market", organized by the Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB) under the approval of the Turkish Ministry of Commerce, has distributed awards. A total of 141 projects applied across six project categories and one success stories category, with 18 projects deemed worthy of awards and TRY 600,000 in prize money distributed. Due to the pandemic, the award ceremony for the "R&D Project Market in the Chemical Substances and Products Sector", held for the 9th time on 21 November, was conducted digitally for the first time and livestreamed on İKMİB's YouTube channel. At the award ceremony, projects submitted in 6 separate categories—"pharmaceuticals", "medical devices", "paints and adhesives", "plastics and rubber", "cosmetics, soaps and cleaning products" and "basic chemicals"—competed, with project owners placing in the top three in each category receiving awards. Among the 141 submitted projects, a total of TRY 600,000 in cash prizes was awarded to 18 project owners who placed. Additionally, a special award of TRY 100,000 will be given to projects that have been commercialized within one year.

Pelister: "The most important thing we need is science and the path we will take in science"

9. Speaking at the closing of the 9th Chemistry R&D Project Market award ceremony, İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister noted that due to the global coronavirus pandemic, they held the award ceremony in a digital environment instead of a physical venue, saying: "As İKMİB, we take pride in achieving firsts by quickly adapting to digital event organizations that have developed with the coronavirus. We previously held our first Virtual Procurement Committee organization specifically for South America, and later our first award ceremony with our Export Stars awards. It appears that digitalization is now becoming a part of our lives in social, economic, academic, organizational and virtually all domains".

Emphasizing that everything will now develop faster than before, Pelister stated: "The power of communication will convey more information to more people at tremendous speed. For us to secure our place in this newly reconfigured global power game, without question the most important thing we need is science and the path we will take in science. In light of this reality, Research and Development activities have become even more important now. For this reason, as İKMİB we have launched a project that we believe will hold an important place in our country's future. We are establishing a Chemistry Technology Center that will house reference testing laboratories, international certification and scientific research development centers, a start-up incubation center and a digital library. Our aim is to contribute to our chemical industry—which affects every area of life and is one of five main strategic industrial sectors—advancing in a manner that can create value in its future vision. We will continue to work with all our might to further grow our sector and certainly our economy and enable it to reach the place it deserves in global competition," he said. [caption id="attachment_112801" align="aligncenter"] Adil Pelister[/caption]

Over 1,000 projects awarded TRY 1,156,000 in eight years

Noting that they do not evaluate R&D merely as the emergence of an innovation or new invention, Pelister continued: "We evaluate R&D as the commercialization of that innovation, the creation of added value and the meaningful contribution of all that to our economic and social life. R&D activities are an indispensable part of the institutional management model required to create 'economies of scale'. For this reason, we have been regularly organizing R&D competitions every year since 2011 and trying to support innovations as much as we can. During this period, we have received over 1,000 projects from a broad participant base consisting of students, academics and entrepreneurs, and in return have distributed a total of TRY 1,156,000 in awards. We extend our sincere gratitude to all participants who contributed value by taking part in our competition or serving as jury members."

Sadıkoğlu: "We must produce qualified, value-added products"

Chemistry R&D Project Market Executive Committee Chairman Necmi Sadıkoğlu stated in his remarks that they have been organizing this competition since 2011 to commercialize innovative and R&D-oriented implementable ideas. Noting that 141 projects were evaluated this year and the top three in six categories were determined, Sadıkoğlu said: "Global chemical sector foreign trade volume stands at 5 trillion dollars, and our share is around four per thousand. This means we are at the beginning and we must produce qualified, value-added products. For this we organize these competitions, and through new entrepreneurs, university-industry cooperation we aim to increase our exports in R&D, innovation, design and branding both in quality and value. Last year, chemical exports reached USD 20.6 billion out of total general exports of USD 180 billion. Raising these exports higher will only be possible with new qualified products. We have been making videos of our companies that have achieved success stories so far, thus we keep our relations always active and provide all kinds of support to our competitors. I again thank our competing colleagues, wish them continued success and hope to meet in more qualified projects," he said.

141 projects submitted this year

This year a total of 141 projects submitted in the "pharmaceuticals", "medical devices", "paints and adhesives", "plastics and rubber", "cosmetics, soaps and cleaning products" and "basic chemicals" categories as well as the success stories category underwent a total of 823 evaluations by a broad jury composed of academics and industrialists expert in their fields. Following the identification of finalist projects in each category, finalists presented their projects to jury members in the digital environment during morning and afternoon sessions on 21 November 2020. As a result of the evaluation conducted by the jury, the most successful projects were awarded TRY 50,000, second place winners TRY 30,000 and third place winners TRY 20,000. A total of TRY 600,000 in cash prizes was awarded to 18 project owners who placed among the 141 submitted projects.

Five Success Stories awarded certificates of appreciation

In addition to projects winning cash awards in six categories this year, the videos of short success stories of five projects awarded certificates of appreciation in the success stories category were shared with viewers at the award ceremony.  

8. Fatih Erdoğmuş, who won third place in the Plastics and Rubber category at the 9th Chemistry R&D Project Market with his project "High-Performance Bellows for Ceramic Tile Molds", Prof. Dr. Mutlu Aytemir, who submitted to the Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacy Products category at the 7th Chemistry R&D Project Market with his project "Development of Kojic Acid Derivative Dermocosmetic Products Effective Against Skin Blemishes", Mustafa Kuyumcu, who won first prize in the Plastics and Rubber category at the 8th Chemistry R&D Project Market with his project "Production of Plastic Raw Materials Reinforced with Waste Tea Fiber", Erhan Demircioğlu, who won second place in the Paints and Adhesives category at the 8th Chemistry R&D Project Market with his project "Recovery of Textile Dyeing Wastewater Using a Combined Electrochemical Treatment Device", and Prof. Dr. Tolga Depci and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ersin Bahçeci, who won second prize in the Basic Chemicals category at the 8th Chemistry R&D Project Market with their project "Obtaining Lightweight and Durable Armor Plates from Aluminum Foams Strengthened Through Scandium Alloying", received certificates of appreciation.

  Promotional videos of projects that placed or reached a certain level of success in past years are featured on the website https://www.kimyaargeprojepazari.com.  

AWARD-WINNING PROJECTS AND THEIR OWNERS

Pharmaceuticals category

1. LEVENT KANDEMİR- Development for the First Time in the World of a Stable Oral Solution Form of Favipiravir with High Effectiveness Against Coronavirus
2. BURHAN ATEŞ- Development of the First Enzyme-Containing Shape Memory Biodegradable Stent Implant: A New Alternative in Leukemia Treatment
3. AYCA YILDIZ PEKÖZ- Development of Triple Combination In Situ Gel Formulation for Oral Candidiasis Treatment

Medical devices category

1. EMİNE SARAÇ- ID KIT
2. ÇAĞLA ÇELİK- Development of a Natural-Ingredient, Fast and Sensitive Colorimetric Diagnostic Test for Detection of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)
3. MURAT ŞAHİN- Production of Domestic Bis-GMA and UDMA Polymers for Dental Composite Fillings

Cosmetics, soaps and cleaning products category

1. AHMET ARİF KURT- Production of Cosmesoeutic Raw Materials for Face Masks from Rosa Damascena Pomace Using the Organic Zero-Waste Method
2. MUTLU AYTEMİR- Preparation of Niosome Formulations of Cosmetic Products Containing Kojylmethyl Dichlorobenzyl Piperazine
3. CEREN KARAMAN- Next-Generation Graphene-Based Hair Dyes with No Toxic Effects

Paints and adhesives category

1. DENİZ GÜNEŞ- Boron and Silicon Synergy in Heat-Resistant Paints
2. SERKAN DAYAN- Production of Biodegradable-Formaldehyde-Free-Hotmelt Baby and Incontinence Pad Adhesive
3. ERKAN AKSOY- Light-Absorbing, Emitting and Converting Materials Based on Organic Semiconductors for Photonic Technologies

Plastics and rubber category

1. ERHAN DEMİRCİOĞLU- Composite Fuel Cell Membrane with Boric Acid and Perlite Additives
2. MEHMET VEZİR KAHRAMAN- Smart Food Packaging Materials for Monitoring Fish Meat Freshness
3. MUHAMMED BAYRAM BABACAN- Biotechnological Degradation of Plastic Waste

Basic chemicals category

1. FIRAT EKİCİ- Production of Basic Chemicals Using Solar Spray Dryer
2. LEVENT CENK KUMRUOĞLU- Manufacturing of Next-Generation High-Hardness and Wear-Resistant Cutting Blades Through Thermo-Chemical-Mechanical Boriding
3. ÇAĞDAŞ KIZIL- Fluid-Expanded Smart Sun Tracking System

(Listed as first, second and third place)