10th Technology Awards presented to the winners

10th Technology Awards organized by TÜBİTAK, TTGV and  TÜSİAD were presented to the winners in a ceremony participated by Mr. Nihat Ergün, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Prof. Dr. Yücel Altunbaşak, President of TÜBİTAK, Mr. Cengiz Ultav, President of TTGV and Ms. Ümit Boyner, President of the Board of Directors of TÜSİAD.
 
27 finalists in four varying company scale competed for the 10th Technology Awards. Grand Prize was awarded to TUNA MEDIKAL for developing Computer-Assisted Circular External Fixator System to be used in bone deformity correction. TUSAŞ with its ANKA Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System, ASELSAN with its Project for the Production Process Design of InP QWIP Detectors, and FNSS with its Mobile Amphibious Assault Bridge were awarded Special Jury Prize.

Product Prizes were awarded to TEKLAS KAUÇUK in the large enterprise category for the development of the New Generation High Performance Brake Hose and its Test Machine; METEKSAN in the medium sized enterprise category for the Design of "Millimeter Wave Substrate Integrated Waveguide Antenna Design; LST LAZER in the small enterprise category for the Laser Technology as an Alternative to Sandblasting in Denim Industry, and FIBERLAST in the micro enterprise category for the 6KW Nanosecond Pulsed Fiber Laser System.

Process Prizes were awarded to TRIODOR in the large enterprise category for the Efficiency and Quality Improving Automation System in Dairy Farms; and SELEKTIF TEKNOLOJI in the micro-small and medium enterprise category for the Roll To Roll Continuous Manufacturing Of Nano-coatings for High Efficiency Conversion of Solar Energy to Heat  

R&D target of 2023: 3%
In the awards ceremony, Mr. Nihat Ergün, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, addressed to the audience and indicated that there is a rising trend in the field of technology, similar to every field in Turkey. Minister Ergün stated that “we can say that we run late in this field, but we cannot say we are a country without a technological history. We have the predisposition and aptitude for the technology. We must carry on the rising efforts in science and technology.” Minister Ergün reminded that ten years ago GNP of Turkey was 230 billion dollars, but now this figure has reached 800 billion dollars. He underlined that “while we allocate 1% of this amount to R&D, we will raise this ratio to 3% by 2023. This is a quite ambitious target as the target GNP for the year of 2023 is 2 trillion dollars.” Minister Ergün stated that the government has always sided with the entrepreneurs.

Technology Transfer Offices should be organized on a regional and sectoral basis
The speech of Ms. Ümit Boyner, President of the Board of Directors of TÜSİAD emphasized that the efforts to improve the competence in technology and innovation demonstrate how essential the successes in this area are. Ms Ümit Boyner said that “if we want to realize leaps forward, we have to move to a technologic, high value added creating structure.” She added that “If we want that our country develops in this area, we have to consider all the component factors together, paying due attention to each of them. One of these factors is the regulations. It has been developed a comprehensive regulatory framework of incentives and supports for R&D and innovation. However a number of disparities within the regulatory framework remain to be corrected.” Ms. Ümit Boyner continued her speech by noting that another component of the technological progress of our country is the human factor: “Researches made by OECD reveals the fact that our country should invest in the quality of education. The educational system should embrace creative, analytical and critical thinking skills. In order to gain competence in innovation, we have to improve those aspects of educational system.” Ms. Ümit Boyner stated that they attach importance to the Technology Transfer Offices recently founded in Turkey and she said that it is essential to multiply the number of Technology Transfer Offices, while building them on a regional and sectoral basis. Ms. Ümit Boyner emphasized also the need to improve entrepreneurial ecosystem in general.

A record number of applicants for the 10th Technology Awards
The process of the 10th Technology Awards took start on the September 13th, 2011 and a total number of 192 enterprises filed their application. This is the greatest number of application since 1998 except the 9th Technology Awards. Following the screening process 27 projects were announced as finalists. Out of these 27 R&D and innovation projects 20 are product and 7 are process oriented. 33% of these projects qualified for the finals originated from the machinery industry, 22%  from the information and communication technology sector, 18% from the metallurgy industry and 18% from the electrical equipment and electronics sector. 59% of the finalists are micro, small or medium enterprises while 41% are large enterprises.
The Technology Awards, founded to promote the institutions contributing to the national technologic assets, aims at encouraging successful company by bringing their success story to the public agenda, creating social awareness on the research, technology development and innovation and motivating other firms.

674 applicants in 14 years
“Technology Awards Program” was set forth in 1997 by TÜBİTAK, TTGV and TÜSİAD, with the purpose of awarding creative, innovative, technically perfected and competitive products and process, in order to make Turkey a technology producing country. Until today 647 competitors filed their application for  the Technology Awards, and since 1998 when they were first awarded, 8 enterprises have received Grand Prize, 31 enterprises Achievement Prize, 11 enterprises Special Jury Prize and one research center and one researcher Honorary Prize.

“Technology Awards” is an important platform, raising R&D awareness in our country, displaying the importance of R&D in our development and global competitive power,  and contributing to the formation of collaborations for R&D infrastructure, support mechanisms and human resources.