Technology and Industry Minister Kacır stated:
“With the support provided, we have increased the number of tech startups with a value of over $1 billion to 7. We have ambitious yet realistic goals for the upcoming period. We aim for 100,000 tech startups to blossom from these lands by 2030.”
Mersin Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır stated during the opening ceremony of the Mersin Agricultural and Food Specialized Technology Development Zone (Mersin Agropark) in the Tarsus district that the city has taken a significant step in the technology ecosystem today.
Wishing success for the project, Kacır said, “With the first and only specialized technology park in the field of agriculture and food in our country, Mersin Agropark, we are bringing together our agriculture and food sector with the world of science, technology, and innovation. We are turning Mersin into a center of attraction in agricultural technologies.”
Kacır emphasized that the value-added production and technology development capabilities of countries constitute the key to sustainable growth and international competitiveness, highlighting that the adoption of advanced technologies increases the welfare levels of societies.
Expressing that they have made significant strides in many fields in Turkey over the past 22 years, Kacır stated:
“Under the leadership of our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we have created a giant R&D, innovation, and entrepreneurship ecosystem. We have implemented planned and integrated industrial infrastructures required by our industry. We have implemented attractive incentive systems that will stimulate the investment appetite of the private sector and turned Turkey into a global production hub. We have built a Turkey that is powerful in its region and influential globally.”
Kacır stated the importance of having strong entrepreneurship and technology ecosystems in line with the “National Technology Move” vision and mentioned the steps they have taken to strengthen the technology and innovation ecosystem:
“In line with our National Entrepreneurship Strategy, we are collectively building a more democratic model in Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem, offering more equal opportunities compared to the dynamics of other countries’ entrepreneurial ecosystems. While realizing our goals of the National Technology Move, we are spreading the culture of entrepreneurship to the grassroots level. By providing the infrastructure that will accelerate every stage of this process and the support needed by our entrepreneurs, we are facilitating their work. We ensure that public resources have a multiplier effect for our entrepreneurs through funds and co-financing mechanisms such as the Technology and Innovation Fund, Regional Development Fund, Regional Venture Capital Fund Calls, Information Valley Venture Capital Investment Fund, and Tech-InvesTR program. We support young people in turning their technology and innovation-focused business ideas into value-added ventures through the TÜBİTAK Individual Young Entrepreneur Program.”
- “We aim for 100,000 tech startups to blossom from these lands by 2030” Kacır pointed out that they enable young people to commercialize their dreams and projects through entrepreneurship competitions organized within TEKNOFEST.
Stating that they continue to expand the startup ecosystem with an innovative and encouraging approach, Kacır continued:
“With the support we provide, we have increased the number of tech startups with a value of over $1 billion, our ‘Unicorns,’ to 7. We have set ambitious yet realistic goals for the upcoming period. In line with our National Entrepreneurship Strategy, we aim for 100,000 tech startups to blossom from these lands by 2030. With the ‘Unicorn 100 Program’ we have implemented, we support ‘Unicorn’ candidates with global goals and aim to produce at least 100 new ‘Unicorns’ from the new Turkey by 2030.”
Highlighting that they have increased the number of technoparks from 2 in 2002 to 101 with the leaps they have made, Kacır said that they have elevated technoparks to a scale hosting over 92,000 R&D personnel and more than 10,000 technology startups.
- It encompasses approximately 730 acres of R&D area Emphasizing that they consider building the infrastructure to establish food security as essential as the local and national defense industry, Kacır stated, “We support the emergence of new ventures in agricultural technologies within our technoparks. The R&D incentive we have provided to 257 technology startups working in agricultural technologies within our technoparks has exceeded 2.4 billion Turkish liras.”
Kacır stated that Agroparks play an important role in combining innovations in agriculture and technology, concluding his words as follows:
“With Turkey’s first agricultural specialized technopark, Mersin Agropark, we are providing an infrastructure that will pioneer the development and growth of innovative ventures in agriculture and food technologies in Mersin. This center, which we have realized with the support of our Ministry amounting to 81 million Turkish liras, will host technology ventures. With its approximately 730 acres of R&D area, it will enable the implementation and testing of technologies developed within the technopark in the field. I have no doubt that Mersin Agropark will achieve significant success in agricultural and food technologies in Mersin, one of the leading cities in value-added agricultural production. Whatever we do for our shining star, Mersin, the gateway of our country to the world, is not enough. As the Ministry of Industry and Technology, we will continue our efforts to promote and support digitalization in the agriculture and food sectors, as in every field, across our country.”
source: aa.com.tr/ prepared by Melisa Beğiç