Interview on İTÜ ARI Teknokent's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Activities

Director of Marketing and Business Development at İTÜ ARI Teknokent Arzu Eryılmaz spoke with us about research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship activities at İTÜ ARI Teknokent, while also highlighting the importance of this establishment for Turkey. [caption id="attachment_103308" align="aligncenter"] Arzu Eryılmaz[/caption]

Could you tell our readers about yourself and your professional background?

My path to where I am today began with my interests in brand identity, institutional identity and image management during my Master's degree in Public Relations at Ankara Üniversitesi Faculty of Communication. Throughout my career in Corporate Communications that started in technophenols, I realized that entrepreneurship programs are part of the foundational missions of Universities and Technophenols. For more than 15 years, both as a corporate communications professional and as a citizen seeking to create value for my country, I have been establishing, managing and expanding programs and centers to support technology-based entrepreneurship in leading Technophenols. In addition to being the administrator responsible for the establishment and management of programs such as İTÜ Çekirdek, İTÜ Magnet and Innogate, I serve as Director responsible for Marketing and Business Development processes both of these brands and the İTÜ ARI Teknokent main brand that owns these brands.

Could you provide information about your founding purpose and the vision of İTÜ ARI Teknokent, which operates with the motto "Moving Forward Together"?

As İTÜ ARI Teknokent, we aim to contribute to Turkey's technology development by providing the most suitable environment and opportunities for technology companies and entrepreneurs to develop technologies and commercialize these technologies. Through our activities and developed programs, we believe that success is about "building culture" and "creating value." In light of this vision, with our more than 300 technology companies in our region, thousands of entrepreneurs, hundreds of mentors, dozens of stakeholders and more than 100 solution partners, we strive to grow as an ecosystem and achieve much more through collaborative production than we could accomplish alone. Due to our institutional culture, we never work solely for ourselves; as we work to develop our İTÜ ARI Teknokent, İTÜ Çekirdek, İTÜ Magnet and Innogate brands, we also aim to always move "Forward Together" by providing value and support to all institutions, individuals and brands in our ecosystem.

Could you tell us about the Research and Development and Innovation activities you have conducted to strengthen the national technological infrastructure?

Within İTÜ ARI Teknokent, which we founded in 2002 and operate on the İTÜ Ayazağa Campus, more than 300 technology companies provide employment for over 7,800 people in research and development environments, developing over 600 projects annually. As İTÜ ARI Teknokent, we have contributed to the country's economy by facilitating 3,000 successful research and development projects on a 1,655,000 m2 land area with our 10 buildings. Since our establishment, USD 350 million in research and development exports have been conducted in our region. On the other hand, as İTÜ ARI Teknokent, we develop different programs according to the needs of entrepreneurs and companies with different profiles, always making all efforts to go beyond our duty. İTÜ Çekirdek Incubation Center; we provide services to entrepreneurs who want to turn their ideas into commercializable products or services at İTÜ Çekirdek Incubation Center, which is recognized among the world's top five university incubation centers. At İTÜ Çekirdek, we offer entrepreneurs all the facilities an entrepreneur needs in one place, such as open offices, mini MBA/entrepreneurship training, technical infrastructure support, and laboratory access. (www.itucekirdek.com) İTÜ Çekirdek TÜBİTAK BİGG Program; as İTÜ Çekirdek, we are one of the executing organizations of the TÜBİTAK BİGG program. In 2017, we achieved significant success when İTÜ Çekirdek entrepreneurs received the most support in the TÜBİTAK BİGG program. (bigg.itucekirdek.com) İTÜ Çekirdek BIG BANG Entrepreneurship Competition; each year through the Big Bang Start-up Challenge, we identify the best new initiatives at İTÜ Çekirdek and connect startups with the business and investment world. In this way, entrepreneurs become the focus of investors and funds, meet their initial capital and become acquainted with potential customers. Within this scope, we provided our entrepreneurs with TRY 52 million in awards, investments and cash resources just last year. (bigbang.itucekirdek.com)

İTÜ MAGNET Advanced Stage Entrepreneurship Center; we provide opportunities to companies with ready technology-based products that have already sold these products to at least one customer. Through İTÜ MAGNET Advanced Stage Entrepreneurship Center, in addition to office space, we provide services to our companies on scalability, customer acquisition and investor meetings. (www.itumagnet.com)

İTÜ MAGNET FAB | TRİDİ; at İTÜ MAGNET FAB | TRİDİ, Turkey's most comprehensive digital manufacturing center where ideas are converted to products through digital processes, we strive to add value through our extensive machine park to a wide audience from large, medium and small-scale industry to industry, from students to individual users in prototyping and pre-series production processes. (www.itumagnetfab.com) Innogate International Acceleration Program; through the Innogate International Acceleration Program, which we conduct to ensure that technology companies sustain their local success in global markets, we offer our companies international connections access, business model and strategy development opportunities through a 360-degree process that includes training, mentoring, consulting and access to the right people and institutions. (www.innogate.org)

As you know, the chemistry sector is a continuously evolving arena. You also host many technologies. Are there initiatives in İTÜ Çekirdek developing products/services for chemistry technologies?

At İTÜ Çekirdek, we have initiatives developing technologies in every field, from artificial intelligence technologies to gaming technologies, from environmental technologies to insurance technologies. The chemistry technologies field is also an area where our entrepreneurs develop many products and services. To give a few examples of these initiatives; our initiative Arkim, which produces a more cost-effective and more effective type of natural antibacterial through calcination of eggshell powder, has become known worldwide with the technology it has developed.

It exports to Far East, Middle East and European countries including Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. Another initiative of ours, Hyggefood, develops new generation foods that are entirely plant-based, sustainable and nutrient-rich. It is possible to access Hyggefood's first product, new generation caviar, which has received considerable attention, through various online platforms. Nanomik, which develops natural preservatives that keep food and agricultural products undeteriorated in their first-day freshness, currently has more than 36 customers and 4 products. Our initiative Meinox, which works in the health field to provide solutions to contemporary diseases, rapidly carries out its work to take place in the cancer, stem cell, metabolism and regenerative medicine research and development market with the pharmaceutical products it has developed.

The initiatives I shared with you above are only a few of our initiatives developing products/services in this field. On this occasion, I would like to make an appeal through you: There are many initiatives in the chemistry technologies field both in our country and at İTÜ Çekirdek. What matters is that these initiatives can access the financial resources they need to get started. If initiatives cannot access this, unfortunately they cannot go beyond being just "ideas." Among the valued readers reached by this article, if there are those who wish to come to İTÜ Çekirdek, get detailed information about initiatives in this field, and offer support, our doors are wide open. As İTÜ ARI Teknokent, we always operate saying "moving forward together" and by bringing the pioneers of the Chemistry sector into our ecosystem, we can jointly contribute to more technology coming from our country and touching lives.

Could you provide information about the work you have carried out as İTÜ ARI Teknokent to provide support to your companies and entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 process?

With the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) affecting the entire world, there are many new needs and many innovations that need to be done to combat it. For this reason, technology entrepreneurs play an important role in this path. There are many new or large-volume needs, from low-cost respiratory support devices to stretchers for transporting infected patients. As İTÜ ARI Teknokent, we are mobilized with our programs, companies and entrepreneurs for the fight against Coronavirus. We can summarize our work under 5 main headings: We opened the #FightCOVID19 vertical at our İTÜ Çekirdek Incubation Center with the support of Petrol Ofisi. We welcome all entrepreneurs with products or services in the fight against Corona.

This problem, which has many dimensions such as detection methods, respirator technologies, sterilization solutions, has a solution that I can also contribute to, we say 'Develop at İTÜ Çekirdek, Improve the World.' We received more than 150 applications in a short period. Startups that applied to the #FightCOVID19 call and were accepted are benefiting from İTÜ Çekirdek's 7-week entrepreneurship training and mentoring network. Entrepreneurs who complete the process successfully meet corporate companies and investors at İTÜ Çekirdek's Big Bang Start-up Challenge event and can receive a share from the TRY 52 million award and cash pool.

Employees of Petrol Ofisi are also part of İTÜ Çekirdek's mentoring network, guiding entrepreneurs with their knowledge and experience. In addition, since entrepreneurs need to quickly develop their products and contribute to the process during the pandemic, Petrol Ofisi provides financial support to the initiatives it deems appropriate; holds partnership discussions. Our call will continue until September. Entrepreneurs wishing to get detailed information can contact us at www.itucekirdek.com/fightcovid. We implemented another initiative we conducted at our İTÜ Çekirdek Incubation Center to prevent the pandemic process from negatively affecting our entrepreneurs' access to resources. We made an appeal to individual supporters, financial supporters, investors and corporate stakeholders saying "Support the Technologies of the Future Today." We have received nearly 100 wonderful responses so far.

Some want to provide financial support, some mentoring support, and many people want to shoulder the burden for our country's future. Our technology entrepreneurs need more support, especially in terms of financial lifeline to write their success stories. To avoid saying later 'why aren't we producing this technology,' we must support these projects today. We invite every corporate company to hold the hand of at least one entrepreneur and provide lifeline. We invite those who say "we will overcome these times more easily by joining our strengths" to İTÜ Çekirdek. Those interested can contact us at www.itucekirdek.com/destekcilerecagri.

From mid-March onwards; at our digital manufacturing center İTÜ MAGNET FAB | TRİDİ, we produced equipment needed by our health workers and took their requests through our website destekbizden.com. So far, we have produced and delivered to our health workers more than 30,000 equipment such as intubation boxes, face shields, N95 masks, protective masks and UV disinfection units through our three-dimensional printers to more than 550 health institutions in all 81 provinces; we continue to deliver. At this point, again with the support of Petrol Ofisi, we are also conducting different product development work in line with needs. Valued health workers wishing to make requests can contact us through the destekbizden.com address. We began scanning our Technopark companies to effectively promote products that could already be used in this struggle. We informed the details of the products to our relevant ministries. By creating a clearly visible section in the main menu on the İTÜ ARI Teknokent homepage, we also listed them and continue to keep this list updated with newly arrived products. We also announced these products to other technophenols through the Technology Development Regions Association TGBD and the World Technophenol Association IASP for cooperation and commercialization purposes. We have begun tracking and supporting relevant companies by scanning entrepreneurial companies graduated from and currently active at İTÜ Çekirdek. You can access details about the above-mentioned companies and initiatives with coronavirus-related products or services through the link: https://www.ariteknokent.com.tr/tr/cagrilar/fightcovid19

Could you tell us about the activities you plan to conduct in the coming years? What benefits will these activities bring to both your university and your entrepreneurs?

As İTÜ ARI Teknokent, we have a multi-faceted series of programs and services for the technology-based development of our country, from the idea stage to globalization, from prototyping services to customer introductions. In the coming years, our primary goal is to continue our existing support sustainably and even strengthened. There is one more mechanism that can be added to all programs within our structure: Investment Fund! In fact, we are among the background fund provider partners of all leading fund companies in our country. However, it is time to establish our own early-stage fund and provide direct financial support to our own entrepreneurs with our own hands. In summary, the module planned to be added to our programs in the coming years will be the "Investment Fund" module. On the other hand, our programs, which are actually open to every technology vertical, aim to become much more efficient and more sector-focused by partnering with sectoral stakeholders. For example, until today we have made a great difference with the Automotive Exporters Association in the "automotive technologies" vertical, and with leading Insurance Institutions in the sector in the "insurance technologies" vertical, enabling new technology initiatives to emerge, grow, and add value to their own sectors. We also have "energy technologies," "food/agriculture technologies" and "gaming technologies" verticals in mind and are in discussion processes with stakeholders in these areas. Focusing on a vertical and supporting technology startups in that area with greater effort is only possible with a leading sectoral partner. For this reason, I am calling out to our leading chemistry companies once more: Let us together open the İTÜ Çekirdek Chemistry Category, which will exponentially increase sectoral innovation, bring thousands of new ideas to the chemistry sector through open innovation and contribute to gaining competitive advantage!