ENTREPRENEURS IN İZMİR WILL RECEIVE GRANTS UP TO 1 MILLION FROM KOSGEB

31 OCTOBER 2013

The entrepreneurs will be able to receive grant up to 1million TL for their new ideas, innovative projects through the “KOSGEB R&D, Innovation and Industrial Application Support Program” signed between Izmir Chamber of Commerce, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), Izmir University of Economics, and Izmir Bilimpark.

Ekrem Demirtaş, Chairman of the Executive Board of Izmir Chamber of Commerce (ITO) and Izmir Bilimpark, Mustafa Kaplan, President of KOSGEB, Prof. Dr. Tunçdan Baltacıoğlu, IUE Rector, Jak Eskinazi, Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of Izmir Chamber of Commerce, Tayfun Eyiel, Member of the Executive Board of Izmir Bilimpark, and Mustafa Çanakçı, Manager of KOSGEB Izmir South Service Centre, attended the protocol signing ceremony. Chairman Ekrem Demirtaş said that they stated establishing techno parks in Izmir were essential in their strategic plan they prepared in 1992. He said, “Since then, the Chamber followed the technology closely and developed leading projects.” Demirtaş stated that Izmir University of Economics, which was established in 2001 by ITO, ranked in 34th place in Entrepreneur and Innovative University Index 2012 announced by Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, and ranked in 5th place in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Culture. “And finally, Izmir University of Economics qualified to have the “Entrepreneurship Flag” for their most number of enterprising projects in “Bu Gençlikte İş Var” titled competition organized by TUSIAD”, said Demirtaş.

GROUNDBREAKING FOR TECHNO PARK IS SOON

Demirtaş stated that they established the second techno park of Izmir, İzmir Bilimpark, in January of 2013 in order to contribute to technology and innovation development of the city, and that the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology approved the projects related to Izmir Bilimpark. “We will be breaking the ground on Izmir Bilimpark in 15-20 days assuming everything goes well. We will do whatever is necessary. It will heavily focus on agriculture based industry, agro technology, software, and chemistry sectors by taking the features of the region into consideration,” said Demirtaş.

Stating that they had significant collaborations with KOSGEB, Demirtaş said, “KOSGEB provides great support for entrepreneurs and those with innovative ideas, but for some reason this is not publicised very much. I believe that our collaboration through this protocol will allow these supports to be publicised more.” Mustafa Kaplan, President of KOSGEB, stated that Turkey excelled among the middle income level countries, and changing the mentality and producing value added products was required in order to get in the high income level group. Kaplan said, “In order to make this happen, we especially need new entrepreneurs, research and development and innovation, and innovative ideas. Therefore, we provide support for our entrepreneurs. We help them adapt to new economy. We are working on to create more competitive small and medium sized enterprises (KOBI) and entrepreneurs.”

Kaplan stated that up until now, they reached to 200 thousand people nationwide through trainings, supports, and studies they conducted. He said, “This, in a way, is similar to planting a seed. We planted 200 thousand seeds. We also support entrepreneurs launch their own businesses after the trainings. Approximately 10 thousand enterprises have been established following the trainings conducted by KOSGEB, and we provide 100 thousand TL support for these enterprises. Now, with a new approach, we will be offering a grant of up to 1 million TL for entrepreneurs, existing small and medium sized enterprises for their research and development studies, innovative ideas, and putting these innovative ideas into practice. Support will continue until prototypes are created. Entrepreneurs and small and medium sized enterprises in Izmir will benefit from this support with this protocol we signed today. Not only will the small and medium sized enterprises in production sector, but those in service sector also benefit as well.”

IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Tunçdan Baltacıoğlu also stated that they supported students with putting their new ideas into practice with the incubation centre established within the University. The Rector said, “This new protocol will also be beneficial for our students, we will be supporting our students as well.” Later, the protocol was signed by Demirtaş, Kaplan and Baltacıoğlu.

A commission, composed of members of KOSGEB, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir Bilimpark, and Izmir Chamber of Commerce, will be established in order to determine the projects that will receive support through the protocol.