The Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony of the "Engine Center of Excellence" to be established by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology within the Energy Institute of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center was held on October 20, 2015 at TÜBİTAK Gebze Campus.
The "Engine Center of Excellence" aims to create domestic manufacturers of trucks, tractors and agricultural machinery, generators, construction equipment and range extender engines in our country. In this context, infrastructures for the development of internal combustion engine dynamometers and emission measurement systems, vehicle propulsion system dynamometers, injector and pump test systems, test equipment for exhaust treatment systems and electronic control units will be established within the Energy Institute of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center.
Fikri IŞIK, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology; Hasan Basri GÜZELOĞLU, Governor of Kocaeli; Prof. Dr. Mehmet Çelik, Vice President of TÜBİTAK; Prof. Dr. İbrahim KILIÇASLAN, Director General of Industry; Assoc. Bahadır TUNABOYLU, President of TÜBİTAK MAM Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hacı Ali MANTAR, President of TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, Prof. Dr. Haluk GÖRGÜN, Rector of Gebze Technical University, Mehmet ARSLAN, District Governor of Gebze, Adnan KÖŞKKER, Mayor of Gebze, Zeynep ERKUNT ARMAĞAN, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Erkunt Tractor Industry A.Ş. and other guests.
The ceremony started with the opening speech of TÜBİTAK MAM President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahadır TUNABOYLU and continued with the speech of Zeynep ERKUNT ARMAĞAN, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Erkunt Tractor Industry Inc. In her speeches, the importance of the Engine Center of Excellence for Turkey was emphasized.
Fikri IŞIK, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, used the following expressions in his speech;
"Today we will sign a very important protocol. We will implement an Engine Center of Excellence. Here, perhaps for the first time in Turkey, we will realize an important protocol that will be signed by 15 industrialists and 4 public institutions. Not only that, we will gather all of Turkey's engine-related know-how here. Today, we have become a country that has achieved firsts in the world. The Engine Center of Excellence is a project that includes first design, then prototype production and a test center. We will make a serious investment here and we do not want to burden the private sector. We will cover the first installation cost as the state, and then we will be a partner in the subsequent costs.
Our 15 industrial organizations will carry out all the research here within the program, and the knowledge accumulated here will be shared. It will turn into economic benefits and social benefits for Turkey. I believe that a country that imports 3.5 billion USD will commercialize the results that will emerge from this center of excellence and perhaps become a country that exports over 10 billion USD. This is our goal, we have the infrastructure for this, we have the human resources we need, we will also purchase services if necessary, and we will work with the most professional companies in this field. In every aspect, we will produce engines, all property rights of which belong to us, we will use them in our domestic automobiles, we will meet the needs of our tractors, and we will become a country that has a say in engine technology in the world.
In this project, we really want to put forward a public, university and industry cooperation that will set an example for Turkey. Universities in Turkey have a serious accumulation. We have many industrialists with practical intelligence in industry. Within a certain period of time, Turkey will realize a center of excellence that should have been realized in the 1960s in the coming days."
Minister IŞIK thanked all those working in the private sector, TÜBİTAK and the Ministry, and all academics from universities who will take part in this work, and wished that the Engine Center of Excellence would be beneficial for our country and our industrialists.
After the speeches, the President of TÜBİTAK MAM, General Manager of Industry, Head of TÜLOMSAŞ R&D Department, Erkunt Tractor, Hattat Tarım Mak. Hisarlar, Tarmakbir, Tümosan, Ceylan Otomotiv, Aksa Generator, Anadolu Motor, Başak Tractor, BMC, Hidromek, Sanko, Taral, Teksan, Türk Traktör officials, the Engine Center of Excellence Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony was held.
