Leading entrepreneurship contest that is organized by METU and ODTÜ Teknokent has attracted great interest in 2013. This year 1071 applications have been made, which is the highest score of the application that has been reached for the NINB from its start.

777 new work ideas (projects) have been submitted from the university students and new graduates. These numbers not only impress the importance that entrepreneurs give to the NINB but also the increase in the attention that is given to the technology based entrepreneurship.  

What Will Happen Now?

Now the NINB competitors will face riveting and educational process.

After passing the preliminary assessing, the projects will be evaluated by experienced academic staff, investors, managers and business people. At the end of this evaluation top 30 projects will pass to the second stage where they can benefit from support systems.

What Will the Entrepreneurs Win?

The owner of top 30 projects will have “Entrepreneurship and Business Plan Education” for 100 hrs where all the modules will be covered by leading professionals. Also the owners or top executives of tech companies will be appointed to the teams for coaching. While all the intellectual and industrial property rights are taken cover, contesters will gain experience from the full process.

Top three projects will be awarded 100.000 TL separately from Elginkan Foundation, Undersecretairat for Defence Industries and Turkcell and free office space will be given by ODTÜ Teknokent. Four special (25.000 TL) awards given by OSTİM, Denizbank, Aselsan ve Çalık Yedaş separately, will also support the entrepreneurs to set up their own business.

NINB will be an experience and educational process not only for the winners but also for the participants. So everyone wins from NINB!

NINB with its financially 1.5 million TL worth support, helps the one with good ideas but not enough money to make their dreams come true.

You can follow the developments via www.yfyi.com and twitter @yfyi. Don’t miss the big finals which will be held in 2^nd of November 2013.

 

"During the 1^st Technology Development Regions Summit, the Technology Transfer Offices which deserve to be supported within the scope of TUBITAK 1513- Technology Transfer Offices Support Program have also been declared.  “ODTU Teknokent University-Industry Collaboration and Technology Transfer Project” which will be carried out by METU in collaboration with ODTU Teknokent will also be supported in that framework. Within the concept of the Support Program, applications from 39 universities were realized and out of this 39, 10 universities deserved to receive the government support."

Within the scope of TUBITAK 1513- Technology Transfer Offices Support Program which was initiated to improve the existing Technology Transfer Offices and encourage the establishment  of the new ones, applications from 39 universities were evaluated by considering the experience, competence, personnel structure of technology transfer offices together with the  targets, outcomes and business plan of the projects. This year, Boğaziçi, Ege, Hacettepe, Koç, METU, Özyeğin, Sabancı, Selçuk and Yıldız Technical universities, technology transfer offices, were entitled to be supported.

The main aims of ODTU Teknokent University Industry Collaboration and Technology Transfer Project, which will be supported under the scope of this program are:

• To enable the University – Industry Collaboration,
• To support technology based entrepreneurship,
• To strengthen the synergy between companies (platforms, clustering, network structures),
• To ensure the efficient use of national and international funds for the financing of R&D and innovation processes.
• To convert METU’s academic knowledge, experience and research results into economic, cultural and social values by developing effective collaborations.

 

The protocol for "ODTÜ Teknokent, Development of University-Industry Collaboration and Technology Transfer Project" was signed by the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Mr. Nihat Ergün, President of TÜBİTAK Prof.Dr. Yücel Altunbaşak and the President of Middle East Technical University Prof.Dr. Ahmet Acar on April 9, 2013. at a ceremony held at TUBİTAK.

With respect to the project, TUBITAK support of 1 million TL annually will be available and  according to the yearly performance, continuation of the support for a period of 10 years will also be possible.

According to the UK based Times Higher Education’s "Asia University Rankings 2013" list announced on April 10, 2013, Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi (ODTÜ) ranked in the 22nd place among the top 100 universities of the Asian continent.

Being the only Turkish university listed in the "World Reputation Rankings 2013" announced in March 2013 and placing in the 51-60 band among the top 100 institutions of the world, ODTÜ has also represented Turkey at the highest rank in Asia’s top universities list.

Covering countries like Japan, China, South Korea, Hong-Kong, Singapore, India, Israel, and Iran, the "Asia University Rankings 2013" list is based on 13 different performance criteria including educational quality, research activities, citations to scientific publications, industrial revenues and international outlook.

In the list where ODTÜ holds the highest rank among the Turkish universities, Bilkent, Koç, Boğaziçi and İstanbul Teknik Universitesi ranked in 28^th, 31^st, 37^th and 38^th places, respectively. Japan is the best represented country with 22 universities in the list where the total of 15 Asian countries has appeared in the ranking.

ODTÜ’s place in the world university rankings has been significantly rising with the demands  of international students. The number of international students at ODTÜ has increased by 30% within the last four years. Obtaining a share of 9% of the total European Union Research Funds coming to Turkey, ODTÜ proved itself in the international platforms with its strength in research.  As it may be known, ODTÜ Technopolis has been ranked as the top institution in the “Technopolis Rankings” (Teknokentler Başarı Sıralaması) announced by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology last week.

I congratulate and express our sincere thanks to our faculty members, administrative staff, students and alumni for their contribution to this remarkable outcome.

 

Prof. Dr. Ahmet Acar

President

“Performed for the first time this year by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Technology  Development Zones (TDZ) Performance Index was announced. ODTU Teknokent is in the first place with 57.39 points, surpassing all other technology development zones with respect to the Technology Development Zones Performance Index announced by Mr. Nihat Ergün, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, during 1^st Technology Development Zones Summit held on March 28, 2013 in Istanbul.  Prof. Dr. Ahmet Acar has received the award from the Minister, Mr. Nihat Ergün.

ODTU Teknokent  was not only awarded for being the most successful Technology Development Zone, but also received an award within in the category of Large Firms. Operating in ODTU Teknokent, "Aselsan Elektronik San. ve Tic. A.Ş.”, was awarded the medal for their “Software-Based Radio Project”.

This year, for the first time Technology Development Zones Performance Index study has been performed by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. Results have been announced by the Minister Mr. Nihat Ergün, on March 28, 2013 at İstanbul WOW Hotel within the scope of 1^st Technology Development Zones Summit.

Technology Development Zones (TDZ) Performance Index was created in 3 categories, 6 dimensions and 14 subtitles, by considering the numbers of 2011.  In the first dimension of the first index study covering 32 TDRs that are operational in 2011, supports provided to the management company, exemptions provided to the companies and management company’s expenses have been evaluated within the scope of government subsidies and the expenses of the management company. Within the 2^nd dimension, under the scope of R&D competence; R&D projects, expenses and revenues and in the 3^rd dimension, import data and company compositions have been evaluated.

Domestic and foreign patent applications and registrations, utility model and brand registrations were included as the 4^th dimension, incubation programs and technology transfer office services within the scope of intellectual property rights were evaluated under the 5^th dimension and finally, in the 6^th dimension, university-industry collaboration, inter-company co-operations and international collaborations were included within the scope of collaboration and interaction.

Entry of private cars to METU Eymir Lake will be restricted on weekend days and official holidays between April 13and November 17, 2013.

METU had implemented a "Car-Free Eymir Lake" period in September-November of last year with an aim to ease the traffic problem during weekends at the METU Eymir Lake, protect its nature and to ensure that our guests enjoy the surroundings unaffected by the heavy vehicle traffic. Cars were not allowed in the lake area during the peak hours on the weekend days when the usage of the Lake is at the maximum, and transportation around the Lake was provided by METU busses

A survey was conducted to assess guest satisfaction with the "Car-Free Eymir" period, and 67% of the respondents indicated they supported the implementation.

With the arrival of the peak season and very high number of cars already observed on the premises, entry of private cars in the Lake area on weekend days and official holidays will be restricted. The "Car-Free Eymir" period will start on April 13, 2013 and run until November 17, 2013, and restriction will apply between 11:00 and 19:00.

Busses will start from the Lake's Gölbaşı and TRT parking lots, and run continuously between 11:00 and 20:00 to transport our students, personnel, and guests to the stops all around the Lake.

We thank you for your support of "Car-Free Eymir" and wish you pleasant days at Eymir.

General Secretariat