Tokat Technopark

Hello, my name is Uğur Aybek. I have been working in Tokat Teknopark A.Ş., which is the managing company of Tokat Technology Development Zone (Technopark), for about 6 years as a project and financial affairs officer. At the same time, I am continuing my graduate education in the Department of Finance at Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University. A Technopark is an organized structure where technology-intensive R&D (Research and Development), design and software projects are carried out, where innovative collaborations turn into projects, the production of high value-added products is encouraged and commercialized. Technoparks are all about the public-university-industry cooperation. A university is the place where research turns into knowledge. The industry is the place where this knowledge is put into practice. The public sphere is the area or the structure where this knowledge and practice is encouraged and protected. We call the union that gathers the framework of public-university-industry cooperation under one roof, Technopark. Technoparks act as a key platform, a bridge between university and industry. In this context, the technology bases of our country are Technoparks. The location is just called Technopark. However, we are technically a Technology Development Zones according to the Law No. 4691 on Technology Development Zones. Tokat Technology Development Zone was announced in 2008 and started its activities with the establishment of the managing company in 2010 and the appoval of the project and company in 2014. Technopark is a special organization that supports R&D, innovation, design and software projects and tries to prepare entrepreneurs for entrepreneurship. There are many companies in this organizational structure of ours. These companies carry out R&D, software and design projects in many fields of activity from health to biotechnology, from agriculture to virtual reality technologies. One of our engineering companies among many of our companies has set a successful example. It opened a branch in Silicon Valley in the USA last year. This company has advanced technology in automation technology. It carried out R&D projects in our Technopark. The R&D personnel it employs are Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University graduates and students. This company continues carrying out important projects with its employees. At the same time, this company implemented the automation of the heating center and the university hospital of Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University. It also carried out work for the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the space industry.
As Tokat Technopark, we carry out many activities. We are planning out courses that will be beneficial to our students, especially robotic coding courses, algorithm and data analytics courses, or Python courses. In the upcoming period, we will continue providing the drone construction kit and drone creation courses. When we look at the shareholding structure of Tokat Teknopark A.Ş., Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University is the largest shareholder with approximately 74% of the shares. Other public institutions and organizations are also included in the partnership structure. Tokat Special Provincial Administration, Tokat Municipality, Tokat Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Tokat Commodity Exchange, Small Industrial Site and building cooperative are among its partners. Since we are located on the university campus, we use the infrastructure facilities of the university. Our university has established a Pre-Incubation Center, with the motto of "From an idea to a value". This Pre-Incubation Center has free internet facilities, computer laboratories and social areas. Last year, we created a prototype workshop with the support of the university's R&D (research and development) budget and offered it to our students. In this prototype workshop, our students learn about entrepreneurship by developing prototypes for the projects they developed in the Pre-Incubation Center in the prototype workshop. Many projects, R&D, design and software activities are carried out in this Pre-Incubation Center where our university students participate in. We have a student who has a master's degree in the Department of Mechatronics Engineering who has been awarded the first-place prize in Teknofest competition, who also got an honorable mention and first prize among a competition of 180 universities last year, and has achieved an important success for our university. We invite all students who have a business idea and want to develop their projects to our Pre-Incubation Center, which we have founded with the slogan "From an idea to a value". I wish you success in your exams.