Take Off Istanbul Entrepreneurship Summit, which brought together startups and investors from all around the world, has concluded.
Held at the Lutfi Kirdar Convention Center, the summit, featuring valuable startups from our country's high-tech firms to a broad network of international venture centers and technoparks, created a unique collaboration platform for entrepreneurs by bringing together major players in the startup ecosystem.
07.12.2023
The two-day summit, with a total of 200 local and international startups participating, received 1252 applications from 43 countries. The summit, which included country pavilions from Azerbaijan and Qatar and saw the participation of more than 100 investors, provided visitors with the opportunity to experience different products at the stands of entrepreneurs, stakeholders, and sponsors, listen to inspiring speakers, and meet many prominent figures.
The first day of the Take Off Istanbul's technology and future-focused stage began with Serdar Gurbuz, a member of the Board of Trustees of the T3 Foundation, presenting the "Turkey Technology Team Presentation." The stage continued with keynote speeches by international figures such as Jean Yves Le Gall, former President of the International Astronomical Federation, Dima Djani, CEO of Hijra Group, Mirko Kovac, Founder and Director of the EMPA Sustainable Robotics Laboratory, Ahu Serter, Founder of Farklabs, Dr. Özge Akbulut, CEO of Highlight Dynamics, Duygu Eren, General Manager of Keiretsu Forum Turkey, and Inara Valiyeva, President of the Azerbaijan Innovation and Digital Development Agency.
The summit, an integral part of Take Off Istanbul, featured a startup competition that excited entrepreneurs with a large investment pool, cash prizes, and various support programs this year. Early-stage and growth-stage startups had one-on-one meetings with mentors and investors on the first day of the summit. Following the evaluations of mentors and investors, the 10 early-stage and 10 growth-stage startups selected for the two stages were announced by Take Off Entrepreneurship Summit Director Irem Bayraktar. The program continued with main stage presentations featuring expert jury members.
The second day of the summit began with a speech by Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır on "National Technology Initiative & Turkey's Startups." Minister Kacır emphasized that they have established an innovation ecosystem with 101 technoparks where 9,800 companies conduct R&D and innovation, 1600 R&D and Design Centers in the private sector, more than 60 acceleration programs, and 272,000 R&D personnel. He continued, saying, "This impressive progress was made possible thanks to the incentives and support of the state. Defense industry technologies taught us how a miracle could happen. Our focus is to spread this success story to other sectors. Turkey's Automobile, TOGG, is the signal of this transformation. TOGG, an electric and smart car produced in Turkey, is a pioneer in the transformation of Turkey's automotive industry. This transformation will accelerate mobility ventures. TOGG is already collaborating with 30 different startups.
TUBITAK and KOSGEB support plays a critical role in the growth of Turkish startups. We are expanding the entrepreneurial ecosystem with funds. In collaboration with the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, we launched the Tech-InvesTR program, activating a fund of $200 million. Through the Technology and Innovation Fund, Regional Development Fund, Regional Venture Capital Resource Calls, and the Informatics Valley Venture Capital Investment Fund, we invested $300 million in more than 180 startups. These investments created leverage, enabling investments of over $1 billion in startups."
Kacır, mentioning the establishment of the Entrepreneurship Council to lead the creation of regulations for innovation, stated, "One of our biggest goals is to have 100,000 technology startups and 100 Turcorns from our country by 2030. With 100 Turcorns, our goal is not only for these startups to reach a billion-dollar value but also for these growing startups to bring hundreds of new startups to the ecosystem. Turkey's first Turcorn, Peak Games, is a significant example of this. The number of startups born from this venture has exceeded 70."
Kacır pointed out that women entrepreneurs are the pride of Turkey's entrepreneurial ecosystem, stating, "Turkey is far ahead in this regard. Four out of our seven Turcorns were founded by women entrepreneurs. Kacır stated that TEKNOFEST and Take Off Entrepreneurship Summit are among the most important tools for implementing entrepreneurship strategies, saying, "When we organized the first TEKNOFEST in 2018, we received 20,000 applications for competitions. Looking at where we have come in 5 years, this year, 1 million young people applied to participate in TEKNOFEST. We see that projects competing in TEKNOFEST are now turning into startups. Take Off Entrepreneurship Summit, born from TEKNOFEST and now a brand on its own, has become the largest startup event in the region, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, and executives from all over the world. This year, 200 startups from seed stage, early stage, and growth stage, both local and international, are participating in Take Off Istanbul. 79 of these startups emerged from TEKNOFEST competitions.
I thank the entrepreneurs who shared their passions, ideals, and goals with us on the stage. We will continue to work in this field not only for Turkey but for all of humanity. Technology is valuable only when it serves humanity. Technological superiority does not give anyone the right to kill innocent people. Technological superiority does not give Israel the right to kill children. We aim to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in technology development for a fairer world."
The second day of the summit at Lutfi Kirdar featured speeches by prominent figures such as Nilhan Onal Gokcetekin, CEO of Hepsiburada, Emre Kenci, CEO of Papara, Levent Ozbilgin, General Manager of Microsoft Turkey, Ebru Dorman, Angel Investor, Prof. Dr. Vehbi Cagri Gungor, Turkcell Network Technologies Responsible, Sheikh Mansoor Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Chairman of MBK Holding, Ahu Serter, Founder of Fark Labs, Hande Cilingir, Co-founder and CEO of Insider, Kazim Koseoglu, Board Member of Esas Holding, and Prof. Dr. Hakan Karatas, Deputy Chairman of the Presidency of Defense Industries.
The program also included a panel featuring Banu Korgul, Managing Director of SB Venture Investments, Cenk Bayrakdar, Founder Partner and General Manager of Revo Capital, Murat Onuk, Founder Partner of Arz Portfolio, and Kenan Colpan, Partner of Bogazici Ventures, moderated by Oylum Talu. The "Game and App Academy" panel, attended by Alper Guzel, Director General of the National Technology at the Ministry of Industry and Technology, Serdar Gurbuz, Board Member of the T3 Foundation, Mehmet Keteloglu, Country Director of Google, and Mehru Aygul, General Manager of the Turkey Entrepreneurship Foundation, was followed with great interest by the
Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of the TEKNOFEST Board and the Turkey Technology Team Foundation Board of Trustees, delivered the closing speech at the Take Off Istanbul Entrepreneurship Summit: "Take Off, initially organized in 2018, was particularly the ultimate goal in our technology competitions. Over time, it has evolved into a magnificent event. Today, the young people who participated in TEKNOFEST as high school students are now competing here with the ventures they have established. Witnessing this is our greatest joy," he began.
Bayraktar criticized the current principles of global entrepreneurship by saying, "Dear young siblings who will build the new world; the first sentence always said to you in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem has been 'increase your financial wealth.' Only after financial wealth, humanity can benefit. However, we believe, as guided by our ancient civilization and faith, that placing the benefit of humanity at the top with kindness and justice is necessary. Dear friends, do not conform to the conventions imposed by the global ecosystem. Pursue the values of your beliefs, your unique ideals. Look out for the benefit of humanity beyond yourself, your society, and your nation.
Your greatest capital will be the values you embrace, your virtues, efforts, and team spirit wrapped around your beliefs and ideals. Build and grow these, not materialism. When you look back, the only lasting things will be the works you have built with your beliefs, morality, virtues, and efforts, transcending the materialistic world shown to you. Even if you have the world's richest material wealth, this existing order can silence you when it comes to objecting to the killing of babies and children in Gaza. With unprecedented hypocrisy, it can generate various reasons for destroying hospitals, churches, mosques, and places of worship. It may even go further and insist on playing out a meticulously choreographed scenario in front of you. Anyone can impose this on you. Throughout history, the freedom of thought, expression, rights, and legal freedoms of individuals have been achieved at great costs. You must sail to new oceans, building a fair order for peace and tranquility for all of humanity. Otherwise, this distorted, monstrous order will only swallow you and transform you into something you never wanted to be."
The summit, organized in collaboration with 43 institutions under the leadership of the Turkey Technology Team Foundation, the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and the Presidency Investment Office, concluded with an award ceremony and a commemorative photo shoot for the successful ventures.
