President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) Mustafa Gültepe and many other high-level guests attended the event.
TÜBİTAK BİLGEM introduced Safir Product Family, Orion DLP & Derbent VPN, ELİT Cloud, DIRAK HSM & Mini HSM products to the participants.
TÜBİTAK MAM exhibited Power Quality Analyzer (PQA), Ultrasound Assisted Hydrodynamic Cavitation Reactor, PEM Electrolyzer Module and Components, Fuel Cell Module and Components and TRIJEN Pilot Plant Model. Participants visited the stand and examined the products in detail. Participants also had the opportunity to ask questions by meeting one-on-one with TÜBİTAK experts at the booth.
"Innovation culture is taking root in the business world."
Speaking at the Turkey Innovation Week InovaLIG Champions Award Ceremony, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wished that the events within the scope of the week would be beneficial for the country, the nation and the business world.
Erdoğan expressed his heartfelt congratulations to the individuals, organizations and companies that won the InovaLIG awards, the first of which was presented in 2014, and expressed his pride in all companies that contribute to Turkey's production, employment and exports, especially the InovaLIG champions.
Stating that the number of companies applying to the innovation development program has been increasing steadily every year and that the culture of innovation has started to take root in the business world, Erdoğan said: "We started with 460 applications in 2014, and this year we have reached 2003 companies from 64 different cities. We have awarded 89 different companies so far. The total exports of our award-winning companies last year approached 19 billion dollars. I believe that this figure will increase even more."
Stating that they will continue to support the Turkey Innovation Week events and the InovaLIG project, which they have supported since day one, Erdoğan said: "I have always said it and I would like to emphasize it again today. As long as you work, produce, create employment, as long as you deliver the products of this country to all corners of the world, as long as you continue to trust and believe in Turkey's potential. God willing, we will never leave you alone. We have always acted with this understanding until today. We have always supported the work and projects of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year."
On the last day of the Turkey Innovation Week program, which was organized jointly by the Ministry of Trade and the Turkish Export Assembly and continued for 3 days, awards were presented to innovative projects.
Projects competing in the Sustainability and Disaster Management categories received their awards from the ministers at the Inovatim Innovation Competition. A total of 600 thousand Turkish Liras was awarded to 10 projects that won awards in the 10th Turkey Innovation Week program.
"590 million lira investment in 182 initiatives"
Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır also spoke at the "InovaTİM Innovation Competition Award Ceremony" held within the scope of Turkey Innovation Week, and said that the event is one of Turkey's most visionary organizations in the field of innovation.
Stating that they have provided entrepreneurs with access to financing, which is the lifeblood of entrepreneurs, through the funds and fund-of-funds mechanisms they have implemented, Kacır continued as follows: "With the Technology and Innovation Fund, Regional Development Fund, Regional Venture Capital Fund Calls and Informatics Valley Venture Capital Investment Fund, we invested a total of 590 million TL in 182 startups, 152 million TL of which was through 16 investment funds. With the leverage effect they created, these funds enabled our startups to access 23 billion Turkish Liras in capital resources. With the Tech-InvesTR program, we mobilized a fund worth 4 billion liras. 73 startups in high-tech fields have received 1.4 billion liras of investment from these funds so far. Our R&D centers and technopark companies, which benefit from our R&D incentives at a high level, provided 725 million liras of financing to technology startups within the framework of our regulation."
Stating that they also ensure the commercialization of innovative business ideas through infrastructures such as Technoparks, incubation centers and TEKMER, Kacır said: "To date, domestic sales in our Technoparks have reached 318 billion liras and exports have reached 10 billion dollars. The amount of support and incentives benefited by our R&D and design centers is over 200 billion liras."
Stating that in the last 21 years, TUBITAK has supported the R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially industrialists, academics and scientists, with over 140 billion liras, Kacır said: "With our TÜBİTAK Individual Young Entrepreneur support, 2,277 technology initiatives were established in these lands. With our R&D and innovation programs carried out with KOSGEB, we have so far provided 7 thousand SMEs with access to nearly 4 billion liras of resources. In order to become a high-tech producing country and to permanently reduce the current account deficit, we have implemented our Technology-Oriented Industrial Move Program. Thus, we have created an end-to-end support mechanism from idea to product that will enable the production of critical products needed by our country with domestic facilities. To date, we have paved the way for more than 60 billion liras of investment in medium-high and high-tech sectors with our program. Within the scope of the program, we are planning to launch a new call under the title of "Innovative/Disruptive Technologies" in the coming period."
"Our political and economic independence is only possible with our capabilities and capabilities in science and technology," Minister Kacır said: "The way to progress in scientific and technological fields is through innovation. In line with our goals for the Turkish Century, we will continue to remove the obstacles in front of our innovation-oriented entrepreneurs and investors and stand by them. In September, our industrial production increased by 4 percent on an annual basis. More importantly, the locomotive of this rise was high-tech production, which grew by 50.1 percent annually. With its R&D and innovation infrastructure, entrepreneurship ecosystem and qualified human resources, we now have a completely different Turkey. Under the leadership of our President, in line with the vision of the National Technology Move, we will continue to work day and night with our young people to make Turkey a country that develops and exports its own technology. We are determined to transform Turkey into a center of production, investment and innovation in order to make the second century of our Republic the Century of Turkey."
137 speakers, 11 digital exhibitions
The event, which hosted 137 speakers in three days, was organized as 'Green Innovation: Environmental Strategies and Sustainable Industrial Policies', 'Technology on the Move: New Perspectives in Transportation', 'Smart Soil, Smart Table: Food Journey in the Digital Age', 'Rethinking Energy: Green Steps Towards a Clean Future', 'Global Opportunities in Economy: E-Export' panels were also hosted.
Within the scope of the event, 11 exhibitions and installations that bring together contemporary topics such as new media, digital arts, bio-art and artificial intelligence and play an active role in the promotion of digital art met with art lovers. The exhibitions "The Construction of a Dream", "Digital Art from Sketch to Pixel", "The Lab Bio Art", "The Journey of Export in Turkey", where memories of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were transformed into data sculptures by artificial intelligence experts and digital artists were also presented to the appreciation of the participants.
