TEKNOPARK Istanbul has become Türkiye’s leading deep technology and innovation centre. The foundations of Teknopark Istanbul were laid in 1987 by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce’s leading partnership to fulfil the high-tech requirements through local sources. We compiled the innovation stars that are located at Teknopark Istanbul. These stars have been shining in numerous areas, namely the defence industry, energy, biotechnology, cyber security, aviation and space, transport and financial technologies, and they have stepped into the global league as they have been collaborating with companies abroad.

The device reducing risks in cardiovascular surgery

Cordiostronic has been developing medical devices to maintain the technical standardization of challenging procedures and facilitate implementation in cardiovascular surgeries. The company benefits from cutting-edge technology in the design of medical devices, R&D activities and prototyping. Cordiostronic’s devices raise the quality of cardiovascular surgeries while reducing the risks in the operations, thus drawing the academic platforms’ attention. The company introduces innovative solutions in the medical field. It manufactures advanced medical devices and technologies that aim to render surgical operations perfect for the implementors while reducing the risks in surgeries that depend on the surgeons’ skills. Founder of Cordiostronic, Cardiovascular Surgery Specialist Dr. Ahmet Elibol, states that the company have developed the ‘Elibol’s David Facilitator (EDF) designed for ‘Valve Sparing Aortic Root Replacement’ and ‘Elibol’s Sutureless Ring (ESR)’ designed to enable cardiac support pumps’ sutureless placement in the heart.

Wearable defence technology 

Within the context of reinforced product design, Ayrotec Engineering stands out with two products developed for the defence industry, and the company is getting prepared to conduct exports to Europe. Ayrotec carries out the design and national and indigenous manufacturing of the products that used to be imported in the past. Fulfilling the Turkish Armed Forces’ requirements in wearable technology is among the company’s future targets. The company’s Product Manager, Harun Eren, mentioned the rugged silicone keyboards RSK-01 and RSK-02 the company developed and added, “Our RSK-01 keyboard is under serial production. This keyboard differs from other keyboards based on its features, such as environmental conditioning in military standards and electromagnetic support, an internal mouse unit, and a waterproof and corrosion-resistant keyset. Last year, we developed the RSK-02 product to continue this series and enhanced the product diversity with this smaller keyboard with backlight illumination. We also launched the serial production.”  

Digital fragrance library

Naz Biotechnology has been building a database by categorizing the scents as part of the digital fragrance library project. A thousand different scents will be added to the database in the scent library in the first stage, and anyone interested in this area in our country and the world will benefit from this library. Throughout centuries, the enchanting world of perfume has been dominating people with the influential power of fragrances. Naz Biotechnology’s founder, Prof. Dr. Nazan Apaydın Demir aims to match the digital industry with the perfume industry with its considerable size expressed in hundreds of billions of dollars in the global economy and plans to improve the digital fragrance library.

High-speed and precise automatic damage estimation

Wyseye has been developing artificial intelligence methodologies such as image processing, deep learning and machine learning entirely offline with its resources, and the company has achieved a project that estimates and reports the damages on vehicles. Hasar.AI enables higher speed and precision than traditional processes and ‘automatically’ estimates car damages after accidents. This system that optimizes the work processes and enhances the efficiency of human resources is also developing solutions to the problems of the mobility sector’s major players, the reassurance companies being in the first place. Co-founders of Wyseye Mehmet Eren Bekin and Enes Koşar mentioned that they offered image-processing-based solutions and added, “We have been benefiting from our corporate experiences and developing client-based projects. We have successfully carried out three projects to extend our valuable experiences

to the sector.” 

‘Balloon’ solution for vertebral compression fractures

Medtechnova developed the ‘inflatable balloon technology’ in Türkiye; the device can be used in vertebral compression fractures by erecting the collapsed vertebrae. Medtechnova’s founder Neurosurgeon Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yahya Güvenç said, ‘Balloon kyphoplasty catheter can be used in certain spinal fracture types. This catheter erects the collapsed spine and creates a space within the fracture. In this way, injecting cement can create space in the vertebrae after balloon kyphoplasty. Güvenç elaborated on their activities: ‘The reason behind the inability to manufacture this catheter in Türkiye is our country’s lack of inflatable balloon technology despite the number of sharp-pointed bone fractures under high pressure. Medtechnova designed the balloon’s walls at the electron microscopy level and altered the elasticity values by using a special material, thus achieving a superior balloon compared to our international competitors in terms of resistance and volume capacities. In addition to the silicone balloons used in cardiovascular surgeries and urology, we developed the balloon kyphoplasty prototype with technological features.” 

Growing Andean flowers at home

LEOS has been generating innovative solutions in agriculture, nutrition, and energy. The company presently focuses on two different projects, and through its Refresh project, LEOS is offering business opportunities to women and encouraging their ventures by providing them with training services. Greenbox, LEOS’s other project, enables the growing of healthy vegetables and fruits in houses with organic seeds and without pesticides or harmful chemicals. The plants grow three times faster than the traditional hydroponic farming method, and there remains no trace of a pesticide or chemical residue. The fruits grown in this method can just be picked and consumed. Thanks to its integrated climatization system, Greenbox enables plants to grow regardless of the season and climate conditions. For instance, tomatoes can be raised in cooler temperatures, or spinach can be produced in the desert. Greenbox ensures 98 per cent water and fertilizer savings as it can be reused. Besides, this method lets you save space. Growing plants 50 to 60 times the plants grown in soil is possible. One can practically grow the flowers of the Andes at home.

These industrial robots are quite different

IMB Robotics, operating in industrial cleaning and automation, stands out with the remote-controlled smart robots it developed that are configured based on customer requirements. This company is among the world’s top five companies in this area. It is Türkiye’s only company active in this field and has been conducting exports to numerous countries. RoboJET is an advanced technology product that removes the dirt, rust and old paint residues that go through corrosion on the surfaces of steel structures such as ships, shipyards and storage tanks. RoboJET paints these surfaces following cleaning. RoboJET has been developed to perform faster, safer and more environmentally friendly applications in large metallic surfaces’ cleaning, scraping and inspection processes. These robots use permanent magnets to crawl onto the surfaces vertically or on the opposite sides of the surfaces, and they can efficiently function flexibly for various implementations. RoboJET HP can perform the UHP or sanding implementations in a secure and environmentally friendly fashion through remote operator control.

Accepted to Locate Cambridge Program

Tesu Health Technologies received investment in the prescription digital therapeutics that are presently being used in treating many diseases over a valuation of TRY

70 million. Dr. Hasan Avcu, one of the company’s founders, underlined the billions of US dollars’ worth of export potential for the digital therapeutics developed in Türkiye. Avcu spoke briefly about the progress of Tesu, “In 2022, with the support of TÜBİTAK, we started developing digital therapeutics for the treatment of adult patients with prediabetes diagnosis. Our first product developed as part of our R&D studies is under clinical research. We were accepted to the ‘Biocube Acceleration Program’ within the body of Teknopark Istanbul in 2022. In February 2023, we were included in the ‘The Four Institute’ program that carried out programs in 180 different cities after its establishment in Silicon Valley. In addition to our product developed for prediabetes, we started working on new products for type 2 diabetes and obesity and launched our first investment tour. We rapidly drew investment over TRY 70 million valuation. We have been accepted to the ‘Locate Cambridge’ program, where merely ten startups in life sciences worldwide are accepted. United Kingdom government and Cambridge’s Local Authorities support the program.”