TechAnkara Project Market 2022 ATO Exhibited at ATO Congresium
TechAnkara Project Market opening ceremony, which was held for the tenth time this year, was held on September 26, 2022 at ATO Congresium.
Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, Ankara Governor and Ankara Development Agency Chairman of the Board Vasip Şahin, Ankara Chamber of Commerce President Gürsel Baran, Ankara Chamber of Industry President Nurettin Özdebir, Ministry of Industry and Technology Development Agencies General Manager Barış Yeniceri, Ankara Development Agency Secretary General Cahit Çelik, project owners, entrepreneurs, investors and many high-level guests from public institutions and organizations attended.
268 innovative project applications were received for the TechAnkara Project Market and the first 100 projects were determined as a result of the evaluations. Fair area and stand services were allocated by Ankara Development Agency to entrepreneurs with technology-based innovative projects. During the event, bilateral business meetings were held to bring the top 100 entrepreneurs together with private companies, angel investors and investment funds, scaled entrepreneurs, social enterprise support mechanisms, and public institutions. In the event, the entrepreneurs of 10 projects selected from among the top 100 projects made investor presentations to the evaluators consisting of investors and stakeholder company executives.
Speaking at the TechAnkara Project Market opening, Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank pointed out that in 2021, more than 300 startups in our country broke the all-time record by receiving a total investment of 1.5 billion dollars, and said that the figure in question increased 9 times compared to the previous year. Noting that they could observe that the trend continues to rise in 2022, he emphasized that Turkish entrepreneurs received an investment of 1.4 billion dollars in the first six months of this year. Stating that they think it is not difficult to reach the goal of 10 "unicorns", Varank said, "I sincerely believe that the TechAnkara Project Market, which we opened here today, has made significant contributions to this goal in our country and will continue to do so. This is a place to bring project owners, investors and business circles together. It fulfills an important task for Ankara's entrepreneurial ecosystem, because this beautiful event is designed and implemented in a way that will produce solutions by taking into account all the needs of our entrepreneurs. Education, consultancy, mentoring, joint infrastructures, collaborations, international network, synergy are what you look for. It is present at the event. As long as innovative and technological business ideas can prove themselves here," he said.
Ankara Development Agency Secretary General Cahit Çelik, who spoke at the program, gave information about the financial support provided by the Agency and said, "Today, technology turns into value for the 10th time. Ankara Development Agency has been aware of Ankara's human capital potential since the day it was founded and has been working to transform this asset into added value in the Capital, where information turns into a picture. Ankara Development Agency has transferred 656 million resources to 1135 projects, including 474 million to 514 projects with financial support programs, 26 million to 116 projects with feasibility supports, 21 million to 485 projects with technical supports, 122 million to 12 projects with guided project supports, 8 million to 8 projects with SOGEP program, with current values. When we consider the investments received by entrepreneurs who participated in the TechAnkara Project Market and became commercialized, and the investments received by the entrepreneurs who have successfully completed the investment tour within the crowdfunding system we have jointly made with the fonbulucu for the past year, the Ankara Development Agency has so far exceeded 1 billion liras. We can easily say that it contributes to the ecosystem in Ankara.” he said.
After the speeches, the members of the protocol visited the stands in the fair area where the projects were exhibited.
As a result of the evaluation made by the jury; Biopols Teknoloji-Biopols received the first prize, Theta-Industrial Autonomous Food Drying System with Condensed Solar Energy (Günebakan) received the second prize and EVbee-EVbee received the third prize. The project owners who made it to the finals and were deemed worthy of various awards were presented their awards and a photo shoot was made.