Manisa CBÜ TEKNOKENT rewarded the contributing companies

Manisa Celal Bayar University (MCBÜ) Technology Development Zone Inc. rewarded firms contributing to the R&D and technology development ecosystem with a ceremony.

The “Innovation and Technology Awards Ceremony” organized by the Manisa CBÜ Technology Development Zone Inc. was held for firms contributing to the R&D and technology development ecosystem. The ceremony, held at a special hotel, was attended by Manisa Deputy Governor Mustafa Özkaynak, Manisa CBÜ Rector Prof. Dr. Rana Kibar, Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Ahmet Çetin, Prof. Dr. Kadir Ay, Prof. Dr. Oktay Üçer, Manisa TEKNOKENT Director Prof. Dr. Osman Çulha, Yunusemre Deputy Mayor Mehmet Mesut Doğan, İŞKUR Director Günseli Tufan, SGK Provincial Director Buket İnce, Manisa Industry and Technology Provincial Director Mehmet Üçbaş, Manisa KOSGEB Provincial Director Oğuz Kılınç, Manisa Environment and Urbanization Provincial Director Faik Gürocak and representatives from companies.

In his opening speech at the ceremony, TEKNOKENT Director Prof. Dr. Osman Çulha said, “This is a technology development zone that was established in 2012 but started operating for the first time in 2017, completing its 7th year. We have now reached a level of maturity and are entering a period that is much more knowledge economy-based. In this context, since 2012, the Technology Development Zone has been operating in an area of 111,000 square meters, but our businesses are continuing their activities in a closed area of 5,000 square meters. We also value our personnel. As of last year, a total of 915 R&D personnel are employed in our companies. Among them, 50 are working as software and IT personnel. Women’s employment is very important for us. We are at 80% and it shows an increase every year. A total of 326 R&D and design software projects are being carried out. 100 of these were completed in this period, and 48 new products were launched in the market from these projects. We are talking about products that come out of the technopark and enter the system as new products. These are the data produced by our firms in our region. In addition to this project information, our businesses are also exporting. A total export of 2.7 million dollars was realized. And when we define them as R&D activities and non-R&D activities, we have provided a ratio of approximately half and half,” he said.

Providing information about R&D revenues, Çulha stated, “Our companies related to completed projects are the performance indexes of our technology development management company, which we have obtained from the data you entered and submitted to the ministry. We have sales of 600 million. Of these, 375 million are R&D revenues and non-R&D revenues. This is another criterion showing that we are at a good point in terms of funding R&D and firm access. In addition to these, we have had expenses. Our R&D expenses have been nearly 200 million. We will statistically follow these on an annual basis and guide you and other stakeholders in the missing areas. We want to commercialize knowledge and innovation, and develop technology through interaction and cooperation. That’s why we brought together our R&D centers and technology development zone companies here. Beyond our role of bringing them together, we want to obtain concrete outputs from this collaboration and reflect concrete projects and collaborations at next year’s ceremony. We have created rankings based on the information you entered during your operational period. We have also implemented a similar situation for technology development and our companies. We evaluated among our businesses that submitted their period reports on time and data without deficiencies and determined the awards and winners in 7 different categories from entrepreneurship to collaboration,” he emphasized.

“We strive to work on R&D and innovation topics”

Stating that they aim to undertake projects that will contribute most to the country as Manisa Celal Bayar University, Rector Prof. Dr. Rana Kibar said, “As Manisa Celal Bayar University, we are a large institution serving the entire country with 15 faculties, with our 16th faculty pending publication in the official gazette, 15 vocational schools, 2 colleges, and 32 research and application centers, completing 32 years. We have over 47,000 students and over 4,500 academic plus administrative staff. Therefore, we are quite a crowded institution. We have a large group and serve the entire province of Manisa. With all our academic staff and administrative personnel, we strive to work on R&D and innovation issues, especially in technology. Because we know that every development in these areas will not only contribute to the national economy but will also significantly contribute to the welfare of society. That’s why we are working on these issues. We especially care that our graduates are qualified to fill the gaps in the sector. In this regard, we are trying to strengthen the infrastructure of our university by establishing different collaborations and raising more equipped students. At this point, we are trying to develop these by working with our organized industrial zone, all our industrialists, and our R&D and innovation centers, by making various collaborations. As TEKNOKENT, we provide support to our companies in various fields from software to innovation support. We want to enable more beautiful outputs by supporting these incoming projects,” she said.

After the speeches, awards were given to company representatives.