Teknopark İstanbul, Turkey
“Helpcube Acceleration Program”
Helpcube Acceleration Program is an acceleration program that aims to develop and commercialise technological solutions for natural disasters and emergencies.
Purpose of the solution
Since its establishment, Teknopark Istanbul has hosted the R&D activities of many companies on a local and global scale. In addition to the research and development synergy it has developed with these medium and large-scale companies, it also has many deep technology initiatives in different disciplines in its Incubation Center. With its deep technology-focused incubation center structure, Teknopark Istanbul's Incubation Center Cube Incubation, which hosts an ecosystem where entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders with innovative and deep technology-based business ideas meet for common goals, provides entrepreneurs with opportunities at international standards and takes steps to overcome many difficulties faced by entrepreneurs. and carries out acceleration programs according to its verticals. In this context, after the Kahramanmaraş/Türkiye-based earthquake that affected 11 provinces, another acceleration program called Helpcube was started in order to develop technological solutions for disasters and emergencies. With the Helpcube, support and roadmaps are offered for the growth of enterprises with technological solutions for emergencies, pre-disaster, moment and post-disaster processes. The program helps entrepreneurs who have confirmed their project idea, who are in the product development phase, or who have turned their project into a product, to grow and scale with the support and opportunities offered.
Impact
Companies that develop technology for disasters and emergencies can get opportunities to develop cooperation by taking advantage of the strong network of ecosystem stakeholders. In addition, it can reach hundreds of medium and large-scale local and global companies operating in the Teknopark Istanbul campus, producing joint projects and collaborating.
The program also brings together initiatives that develop technology for emergencies, processes covering pre-disaster, the moment of the disaster and post-disaster, or that can transform their technology into this scope, thus creating a common synergy. In this context, as a result of the meetings where solution proposals were discussed and the technologies developed by the entrepreneurs were introduced, the 'Report on Solutions for Disasters and Emergencies Containing Technology' was created. Therefore, the program not only supports initiatives that develop solutions with support mechanisms, but also provides a basis for the emergence of new solution proposals by coming together with different solution proposals.
What is innovative about it?
Among the support offered to entrepreneurs in the acceleration programs currently offered by incubation centers, the most common ones are entrepreneurship training, mentoring and providing a working space. Although these supports are very important in the first stage in order to turn an idea into a product and develop the business model, different support mechanisms are needed during the development and commercialization of the product. At this point, the Helpcube Acceleration Program not only provides support such as training, mentoring and workspace, but also entrepreneurship analysis, academic and technical consultancy, participation in networking events, demoday, assembly and electronic workshop use, wet/dry laboratory and clean room use, access to the Teknopark Istanbul ecosystem and access to the Teknopark Istanbul ecosystem. It also offers company matches, investor meetings, Technology Transfer Office supports, technopark tax advantages and opportunities to develop cooperation with partner companies and institutions, including global companies. Therefore, with these customized support mechanisms offered alongside in-kind supports, startups can meet their critical needs and commercialized solutions are ready to be used in possible emergencies and disasters before, during and after the disaster.