The foundation of Teknopark Istanbul, Türkiye's innovation hub, is rooted in decisions made by the Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSIK) on October 8, 1987.
Through a Council of Ministers' decree, around 2.5 million m2 of the 13 million m2 expropriated area in Pendik Kurtköy for the Advanced Technology Industrial Park and Airport Project (ITEP) was designated for Teknopark Istanbul. The goal was to bolster Türkiye's technological development capacity for both local and foreign entrepreneurs.
Within this framework, Teknopark Istanbul, the nation's largest center for deep technology, was inaugurated on May 4, 2010. This ambitious project is divided into three phases, with the first launched in 2013, followed by the second in 2017, and the third in 2021.
Having commenced with 87 companies in 2014, Teknopark Istanbul saw the company count escalate to 175 by 2016. The unveiling of the second phase in 2017 further fueled this growth. In 2019, Teknopark Istanbul continued its successful trajectory with 312 R&D companies, 5,392 R&D engineers, and 2,317 domestic projects.
The initiation of the third phase occurred in 2021. Teknopark Istanbul, experiencing year-on-year expansion, achieved 402 R&D companies, 8,961 R&D engineers, and 2,927 domestic projects by 2022.
Teknopark Istanbul houses distinguished global players from Türkiye's defense, aviation, and space sectors. As of August 2023, Teknopark Istanbul is also actively engaged in R&D ventures across diverse fields including cybersecurity, energy, artificial intelligence, robotic systems, biotechnology, in addition to the defense industry. With 505 firms, 9,274 R&D engineers, and 3,248 domestic projects, Teknopark Istanbul has reached this milestone.
In the span of a decade, Teknopark Istanbul aims to achieve a $10 billion turnover, employ over 40,000 R&D engineers, exceed a thousand in the count of companies, and facilitate the nurturing of more than 300 incubation firms.
