8th Women in Innovation Programme, the first prize went to 'Defence industry and cyber security'

Women and Democracy Foundation (KADEM) has announced the winners among 31 women entrepreneurs who made it to the finals of the 'Women in Innovation Programme', which was organised for the 8th time this year under the leadership of Women and Democracy Foundation (KADEM). In the 'Women in Innovation Programme' initiated by the Women and Democracy Foundation to support and guide entrepreneurial women, 6 women entrepreneurs in two different categories who made it to the finals this year were awarded a total of 1 million TL. Women entrepreneurs received their awards from Zekeriya Çoştu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology, Davut Gül, Governor of Istanbul and Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of KADEM.

Women in Innovation Programme, which was organised for the 8th time this year under the leadership of Women and Democracy Foundation (KADEM), announced the winners among 31 women entrepreneurs who made it to the finals. As a result of the evaluation of the referee committee, 6 of the projects developed by entrepreneur women were awarded a total of 1 million TL. At the ceremony organised, the successful entrepreneurs were presented their awards by Zekeriya Çoştu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology, Davut Gül, Governor of Istanbul and Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, Chairman of KADEM Board of Trustees. Entrepreneur women who participated in KADEM Women in Innovation camp were provided with trainings that they may need in the process of establishing a company and developing their projects by a professional team. At the end of the camp, 6 successful entrepreneur candidates selected by the evaluations of the referee committee were awarded a total of 1 million TL if they fulfil the specified conditions within one year.

'COUNCIL: ORIENTING WOMEN TOWARDS INNOVATION WILL ENABLE THEM TO STRUGGLE'

Zekeriya Çoştu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology, who stated that he was happy to be a part of a programme that has both an exemplary quality and produces concrete outputs in the development of the country, said: 'While KADEM plays an important role in issues related to women and family with its stance, discourse and feasible solution proposals, I should also state that we find the initiative to strengthen the representation of women in value-added economic activities, technology and innovation ecosystem very valuable. First of all, we see innovation and technology-oriented entrepreneurship as a fertile field of action for women to have equal opportunities. Technology entrepreneurship, by its nature and structure, is a field of activity that is more accessible to all segments of society and where barriers to entry and progress are relatively lower. Directing and encouraging women to innovation, technology development and transforming them into added value will enable women to exist and struggle on a more equitable plane. On the other hand, we believe that a greater presence of women in this field is of great importance for the society and the country in general.'

'PRESENCE OF WOMEN FOUNDERS IN 4 OF OUR 7 TURCORNS IS A STRONG AND CONCRETE EVIDENCE OF THIS'

Çoştu said, 'Frankly speaking, we see the reflection of our social wealth to economic activity areas as the key to added value, productivity and growth. We believe that different perspectives, experiences and competences should be blended in a balanced way, especially for innovation and creativity. In this respect, women need to be more involved in the game. I believe that the presence of women founders in 4 out of 7 Turcorns is a strong and concrete proof of this. This is our richness, and we need to make use of it. I would like to emphasise again that we, as the Ministry, attach importance to this issue. We are also endeavouring to fulfil its requirements. Our partnership in this programme, which brings us together today, is a reflection of this motivation. We are trying to contribute to this very valuable initiative of KADEM with the various supports of our institutions such as Istanbul Development Agency, KOSGEB, Informatics Valley.'

'AS THE MINISTRY, WE PIONEERED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PLATFORM CALLED WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP INITIATIVE'

Çoştu said that the Ministry pioneered the establishment of a platform called Women Entrepreneurship Initiative in order to ensure that women entrepreneurship is more focused and prioritised more on the agenda of both the public and the ecosystem, and added: 'For this purpose, we invited women leaders, successful entrepreneurs and civil society representatives of the ecosystem to manage the platform. We are carrying out the secretariat of this platform. We expect this Initiative, of which KADEM is one of the stakeholders, to be more active in a wide range of areas from policy-making processes to pioneering projects in the coming period. As a ministry, we are trying to reflect this sensitivity and awareness in all our work. We have institutionalised this by making the President of the Women Entrepreneurship Initiative a permanent member of the Techno-Entrepreneurship Council, which is the mechanism that directs and coordinates public policies and practices for the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem. Having this approach and perspective, I would like to remind you that all steps that grow the ecosystem also expand the ground for women entrepreneurship, diversify and multiply opportunities. Turkey's technology ecosystem continues to develop, deepen and mature. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our women entrepreneurs who have started their entrepreneurial journey in all periods of the, Women in Innovation Programme. I especially congratulate our 6 entrepreneurs who will benefit from comprehensive support as finalists in this period, and I would like to thank KADEM family, programme stakeholders and all those who provided them with this opportunity.'

GÜL: WOMEN WILL TAKE THEIR RIGHTFUL PLACE

Istanbul Governor Davut Gül said, 'A society without women is incomplete. Some academics consider the family as the smallest state unit. In social, cultural and economic life without women, we feel that deficiency as a state and nation. In the last 20 years, great steps have been taken under the leadership of our President. Especially the rights of women and the disabled are among the issues we will list first. In order to remove the obstacles in front of women, very important activities were carried out with the encouragement and support of non-governmental organisations, especially KADEM. The ceremony organised today shows that the role assigned to women is not only women sitting at home and not working. Women being employers and being in the fields of entrepreneurship deserve all kinds of appreciation. I believe that with these initiatives and supports, women will come to the place they deserve.'

SÜMEYYE ERDOĞAN: WE WANT TO INVOLVE WOMEN MORE IN INNOVATION

Emphasising that women's creative perspectives, abilities, interests and curiosities add richness to the world of entrepreneurship, Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, Chairperson of KADEM Board of Trustees, said: 'Today, we have come together to celebrate the success of our finalists and to announce the award winners. When we founded KADEM in 2013, we had many goals. Strengthening Women Representation in All Areas of Social Life was one of them. We have made great progress on this path with the projects we have implemented so far, national and international activities, discourse and training activities. The Women in Innovation Programme is an important part of this goal. We started our journey by explaining what innovation means, and today we have a large ecosystem of women entrepreneurs and we are proud of this. We believe that an innovation ecosystem without women would be incomplete. And we believe that we should not only adapt to this great change, but also be the actors and drivers of the transformation. As KADEM, we aim to encourage women entrepreneurship for sustainable growth and to include women more in innovation processes.'

Sümeyye Erdoğan continued her speech as follows:

'We see the Women in Innovation Programme as a strategic application for the vision of the Turkish Century beyond a social responsibility project. More than 2,700 women entrepreneurs have applied to our Women in Innovation Programme so far. More than 235 women entrepreneurs attended our camps and received training. At the end of the camps, 14 of the 42 women entrepreneurs who were awarded with prizes established their own companies. They took their place in the sector as suppliers of large companies, some were employed by reputable organisations, and some are still receiving new awards. The Women in Innovation Programme has grown and become a brand in 8 years. It gained momentum thanks to the interest shown by women entrepreneurs and the support of our stakeholders. With the strength we received from this interest, we have developed our project a little more every year and increased the amount and scope of support. We provided an environment for our entrepreneurs to work with mentors, investors, industrialists and their own team members. Again last year, for the first time, we held Entrepreneur - Investor Meetings, development and motivation meetings. At the same time, we helped entrepreneurs to open up to new markets through bilateral meetings called B2B. We provided sustainable training and mentoring support to women entrepreneurs all over Turkey. While accompanying women on their innovation journeys, we used all the possibilities of information and technology. With our training programmes, in which theory and practice are intertwined, we provided guidance to women entrepreneurs who produce solution-oriented information. This year, our 'Women in Innovation' project was approved as a 'Guided Project' by the Istanbul Development Agency in our 8th term. In other words, our project has gained programme status.'

'I CONGRATULATE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS FOR THEIR COURAGE, EXCITEMENT AND ENDEAVOUR'

Stating that 320 women entrepreneurs from all over the country applied to the Women in Innovation programme again this year, Sümeyye Erdoğan said, 'When we look at the projects, we have seen that the sectoral diversity is very wide. We came across projects in areas such as Health and Education Technologies, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Logistics, Transportation, Agriculture, Agriculture, Software, etc. Another issue that attracted our attention was that this year's projects were extremely qualified and applicable. I congratulate the women entrepreneurs participating in our project for their courage, excitement and efforts.'

Announcing that they will award a total of 1 million TL to the best 6 projects selected in the incubation and pre-incubation category, Sümeyye Erdoğan added the following:

'We will provide the winners in the Incubation and Pre-Incubation category with Support for Participation in One of the International Entrepreneurship Events, Opportunity to Participate in Investor Meetings, B2B Network and Investor Monitoring and Crowdfunding Support. In addition, our stakeholders will provide office and prototype workshop support to our entrepreneurs for the first 1 year for their project work. Women are taking firm steps towards both spreading women entrepreneurship and increasing awareness in this field. They are no longer just employees in business life, but with their entrepreneurial courage, skills and equipment, they are individuals who transform their own ideas into enterprises, establish businesses, become employers and produce added value for the national economy. Our greatest ideal is to reveal the value that women's ideas and products will add to humanity and to remove all obstacles to their participation in socio-economic life. I wish that our Women in Innovation Programme will continue to grow and enrich for many years and become one of the leading brands in supporting women entrepreneurship.'

DEMIR: WE ATTACH GREAT IMPORTANCE TO THIS PROJECT

Kadem General Manager Zeynep Demir said, 'We attach great importance to this project. It is a programme we organised to strengthen women entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs who produce innovation. We are very happy about this. We mentored the finalists, developed their projects, strengthened them if they had any deficiencies and provided trainings. We told them how to analyse the market, how to analyse their competitors, how to access finance and their potential in Turkey. The finalists were awarded 1 million prize. We are really very excited. Congratulations to the winners,' he said.

BAĞCI: WE MADE OUR NATIONAL BRAND REGISTRATION

Melike Bağcı, who received the first prize with the Merkür Defence project, said, 'We were deemed worthy of the first prize. We are very excited. In general, defence industry initiatives are a bit more in the background in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our goal is to add value to national security and we have been working on this for more than a year. We developed a prototype, got a patent, and registered our national and international trademark. We have carried out all our actions in order to produce a product that adds value in this field. I would like to thank everyone who deemed us worthy of this award.'

PROJECTS DEEMED WORTHY OF THE AWARD

Entrepreneurs and projects awarded in the Pre-Incubation category:

Melike Bağcı won the first prize with her Merkür Defence project. Bağcı received the first prize of 225 thousand TL from Zekeriya Çoştu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology. The project developed by Bağcı is to develop wearable 'drone defender' products for cyber security, information security, signal intelligence, electronic warfare, security of unmanned aerial vehicles and other autonomous vehicles in the field of defence and prevention of attacks by hostile elements.

Selen Tavtın, who participated with HER project, won the second prize. Tavtın received her award of 175 thousand TL from Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of KADEM. With the project developed by Tavtın; With the help of BioCell technology, it is aimed to produce recyclable, cyclical and sustainable biomaterial similar to leather with zero waste and natural texture for the leather industry.

The third prize was won by Eylül Er, who participated with the Palgae project. 100 thousand TL third prize was presented by ISTKA Secretary General Ziya Taşkent. With her project, Eylül Er aims to prevent the formation of microplastics in the soil by producing algae-based, low carbon emission, biodegradable and environmentally friendly bio-chemicals.

Entrepreneurs and projects awarded in the Incubation category:

Gizem Uysal won the first prize with her Helios Science and Technology project. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül presented the first prize of 225 thousand TL to Uysal. With the Helios project developed by Uysal in the field of agricultural and environmental technologies, it is aimed to capture carbon from the air using advanced technological materials and use this carbon to increase agricultural productivity in greenhouses.

Pınar Oğuz Ekim, who participated with the Advoard Robotics project, won the second prize. Sümeyye Erdoğan, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of KADEM, presented the award of 175 thousand TL to Ekim. With Advoard Robotics, which she developed in the field of autonomous vehicle technologies and artificial intelligence logistics technologies; Ekim develops fully autonomous mobile fleet robots and software that are aware of each other's location and route information and act in cooperation.

Havva Bozkurt won the third prize with her BIOPROBIF project. Bozkurt received the third prize of 100 thousand TL from ISTKA Secretary General Ziya Taşkent. With the BIOPROBIF project developed by Bozkurt in the field of agriculture and food technologies; It is aimed to develop an alternative product that will reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions with the use of probiotic (probif) bacteria-based renewable food packaging bioplastic products. The winners will also be supported to attend one of the important international entrepreneurship events (Web Summit, Slush, CES, etc.).

16 WOMEN ESTABLISHED THEIR OWN COMPANIES WITH THE 'WOMEN IN INNOVATION' PROJECT

More than 2 thousand women entrepreneurs have applied to KADEM Women in Innovation Programme since 2015. More than 200 women entrepreneurs attended the entrepreneurship camp. At the end of the camps, 16 of the 36 women entrepreneurs who made it to the finals and received awards and certificates established their own companies and 6 of them received investments. They won awards in national and international competitions and achieved significant success in different sectors.

SUPPORT PROVIDED TO WOMEN IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CAMPS

In KADEM Women in Innovation Camp every year, entrepreneurs are provided with the opportunity to use the open office and prototyping workshop free of charge, experience sharing and access to investment funds. Entrepreneurs, who are also provided with mentorship for application to national and international projects and photo/video promotion opportunities in digital newspapers, have free access to finance, sales, marketing and customer management applications.