The world of technology and entrepreneurship met at Take Off Istanbul
Offering its visitors the opportunity to experience different products at the stands of entrepreneurs, stakeholders and sponsors, listen to inspiring speakers and meet many important names, Take Off Istanbul hosted 15 thousand technology and entrepreneurship enthusiasts in two days.
Take Off Istanbul 2024, which started with the presentation of the Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, featured conferences and panels that shed light on different areas of the technology world. Issues shaping the future such as artificial intelligence, sustainability, digital transformation and advanced technologies were comprehensively discussed at the event.
Take Off Istanbul inspired the entrepreneurship ecosystem with two different stages this year. While inspiring speeches and presentations of late-stage startups were held on the main stage, the startup stage offered a special platform for early-stage startups. A total of 21 sessions were held on the main stage with the participation of 30 speakers. Additionally, 21 startups in the growth phase presented their projects on the main stage and met with both investors and industry representatives. The startup stage hosted the presentations of 150 early-stage startups and offered a rich content with training programs for entrepreneurs and sessions where different institutions shared their activities for entrepreneurs.
This year, the speakers include many global and local leaders such as Axiom Space CRO Tejpaul Bhatia, Meta Africa, Middle East and Turkey Public Policy Vice President Kojo Boakye, Samsung Turkey General Manager Jeff Jo and GANI Founder and CEO Dilek Gürsoy. In the speeches at the summit, the technology trends that shape the future and the effects of these trends on human life were shared with striking examples. In addition, the summit, which brought together more than 200 startups from dozens of countries with local and global industry leaders, hosted VCs (Venture Capital) and LPs (Limited Partners) that manage more than 3 billion dollars of funds and offered investment rewards and cooperation opportunities. Thanks to the sessions and connection platforms held at Take Off 2024, entrepreneurs stepped into great collaboration opportunities by interacting directly with investors.
THE CENTER OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIONS
Take Off Istanbul also attracted attention this year with country pavilions that strengthened international participation. The country pavilion format, which was launched with Azerbaijan last year, expanded this year and hosted country pavilions in Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom, France and Palestine. While 5 startups were hosted in the France pavilion in collaboration with La French Tech, Azerbaijan had a strong participation in the event by bringing 6 startups to the top in collaboration with ASAN. The UK pavilion hosted international cooperation opportunities by hosting 5 startups, 5 investors and an official delegation in cooperation with Academia Park.
The Palestine pavilion, which was implemented by IPSD (Innovative Private Sector Development) in cooperation with the Turkish Technology Team Foundation, was one of the most interesting areas of the summit. IPSD, an international initiative supported by the World Bank and the European Union, introduced 10 innovative Palestinian startups at the pavilion. These initiatives had the opportunity to connect with Turkish and global markets, develop strategic cooperation networks and hold meetings with international investors. While the Palestine pavilion became an important connection point for entrepreneurs and investors, it stood out as an important milestone for the Palestinian startup ecosystem to gain a stronger place in the international arena.
FOUR STARTUPS RECEIVED A TOTAL INVESTMENT OF 1 MILLION DOLLARS
Take Off Istanbul, organized in cooperation with 64 institutions, ended with the award ceremony following the speech of Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BAYKAR and Chairman of the T3 Foundation Board of Trustees. In his speech, Bayraktar emphasized Turkey’s national technology move and expressed the future impact of local and national solutions, and said, “Investments in technology build not only our today, but also our future,” and added that the exciting projects at the Take Off Enterprise Summit are inspiring examples. He stated that it was.
At the award ceremony held after Bayraktar’s speech, Novus, Harikatech, Nanomik and Novocycle initiatives received major investments of 250 thousand dollars, and the initiatives received their awards from T3 Foundation Chairman of the Board Elvan Kuzucu Hıdır and Take Off Enterprise Summit Director İrem Bayraktar Aksakal. In addition, startups named Quark Optical, Uppy, Helios and 3P Metrics, which the participating companies evaluated and deemed worthy of special awards, also received awards of 10 thousand dollars. Novus and Bottobo Robotics initiatives won the award worth 150 thousand Miles. Providing a total of 1 million dollars of investment support to startups, Take Off Istanbul became the center of attention of citizens for two days, and became the meeting point of innovative ideas, strong collaborations and promising projects by keeping the pulse of the entrepreneurship ecosystem throughout the event.