Admission to ITU ARI Teknokent requires an extensive evaluation of entrepreneurship, innovation and R&D capabilities of the companies.

 

Companies that are active in ITU ARI Teknokent are already tested for technical and administrative competitiveness. In this respect, companies operating within ITU ARI Teknokent are positively prejudiced, which builds a competitive advantage and allows them to be, nationally and internationally, a focus of interest.

 

 

 

Any start-up that want to operate within Teknokent benefiting from the advantages provided by Teknokent and relevant regulations within the scope of the ITU ARI Teknokent Technology Development Area should observe the application procedure explained in detail.

 

 

In order to ensure start-ups of any status, field of expertize, financial resources and size can equally and objectively succeed, procedures to be implemented and forms to be used in the procedures have been established.

 

 

Application to ITU ARI Teknokent starts with an online pre-application on https://www.ariteknokent.com.tr Start-ups are asked to fill the forms with basic information on themselves and R&D and/or Design projects, and their motives to be in ITU ARI Teknokent.

 

Click for pre-application form sample. Application form filled at the pre-application stage will be used at the main application stage, constituting a major source of information should the company be accepted to ITU ARI Teknokent.

 

So, evaluation of pre-application forms is a consultancy procedure provided by ITU ARI Teknokent Management to start-ups to ensure accuracy and correctness of start-up information.

 

Information to be written on the forms will include general information on the company (current employees, addresses, financial information, etc), and information on the companies’ R&D and/or Design projects carried out in the past, at the present and in the future as part of ITU ARI Teknokent. 1 project to be carried out within ITU ARI Teknokent can be placed in the startups application.

 

As filling of the forms in the pre-application stage are not required to be completed at one session and such forms are updateable by the entrepreneurs, companies that succeed the pre-application stage shall e-mail their application numbers to ariteknokent@ariteknokent.com.tr including company names, and indicate it is the final version of their applications. Pre-application evaluation shall begin once the e-mail is delivered to the ITU ARI Teknokent Management Office. Completeness, format and compliance of these information will be evaluated, if not, a review is requested. This process will take 10 days at the most.

 

 

Main Application process follows the pre-application. Start-ups should complete the main application file, sample of which is given on https://www.ariteknokent.com.tr, and deliver the documents to the ITU ARI Teknokent Management.

 

Click for main application file sample. Following documents should be issued in 1 original, every page signed and stamped by the person listed among the authorized signatures, and delivered to the ITU ARI Teknokent Management.

 

Main application file shall be issued according to the principles and the sample content given below:

 

1 - Digital copies of Main Application File should be burned to 2 CDs, attached to the front cover of the file.

2 - Company logo, company name, application number and date of application should be placed on the inner cover of the file.

3 - A petition printed on a paper with company letterhead and signed by the authorized officer to the attention of ITU ARI Teknokent Proje Geli?tirme ve Planlama A.?. Board of Directors, evaluation of the application as subject should be placed after the inner cover.

4 - Statement of receipt of application should be added following the petition. Application fee for start-ups is TL3,600+VAT, start-ups ready for incubation (*) TL1,500+VAT and start-ups funded by another public institution TL900+VAT, deposited into the TL account at ?? Bankas? ITU Ayaza?a Campus Branch.

Companies established by academicians and students from İTÜ are required to pay application fee, unless shares of academicians and students are 51% at the least.

(*) Start-ups working on R&D, technological innovations and software, employing 1-9 employees, with annually sales income below TL1 million, newer than 3 years, weighted shares not held by legal entities.

 

Account Info

 

Account Holder: ITU ARI Teknokent Proje Geli?tirme Planlama A.?.

Türkiye ?? Bankas?

ITU Ayaza?a Campus Branch

IBAN: TR49 0006 4000 0011 2810 2425 81

Branch No: 1281

Account No: 242581

 

 Section 1: Application Form

 

• ITU ARI Teknokent Application Form

Hardcopy printed version of the pre-application file filled online.

 

Section 2: Company General Overview

 

• Mission and vision

• Profile

• Organization scheme; (if N/A) organizational schemes on project basis (Name of the persons holding every position should be indicated)

• Job definitions

• CVs of Administrative and R&D and/or Design employees

• CVs of partners

• Detailed information on legal entity partners, if any

• Information on foreign partners, if any

• Permissions from public bodies for foreign nationals, if any

• Information on projects in cooperation with ITU faculties and/or consultancy services received

• Any additional documentation related to the company (*)

 

Section 3: Additional Company Identifiers 1 (*)

 

• Marketing information (company identifiers)

• Publicity CD

• Cooperation documents

• Applications made to other institutions (application, acceptance, evaluation reports for financing, support, partnership, etc)

• Press news

• References

 

Section 4: Additional Company Identifiers 2 (*)

 

• Patent-brand registration documents

• ISO quality assurance information

• Service sales agreements

• Product catalogues (*)

 

 

Section 5: Project Information

 

• General information on projects (project motives, project objective, detailed project flow, detailed definition of project output, customer group of project, ways to access the customer group, difference of the project output from similar projects/products, market potential of the project output)

• Technical information on projects (Common technical development methodology, infrastructure, safety and coding standards)

• Project plans (job-time bars, business flow diagrams and project-based organizational scheme created with MS Project)

• Any additional documentation related to the projects (*)

 

Section 6: Official Documents

 

Unless otherwise indicated, original or notarized copies of these documents should be added to the original application file.

• Certificate of Activity

• Trade Registry Journal and Commercial Registry Certificate on company foundation and amendments

• Notarized authorized signatures list

• Statement of profit-loss and balance sheets for the last 3 years (tax office approved)

(*) Not compulsory in the application file.

 

 

 

Arbitrator/Expert Evaluation

 

After complete delivery of the main application file, the ITU ARI Teknokent Management forwards the application for objective, blind evaluation and assessment in technical terms and based on project planning to a Project Evaluation Commission consisting of at least three members i.e. two faculties and one industry specialist who are experts at their fields. Start-ups ready for incubation require one specialist arbitrator at the least. Arbitrators are selected by the Managing Company among academicians of preferably State Universities, and decisions of the selected arbitrators are incontestable without force majeure.

 

The company shall be notified of the Arbitrators to carry out evaluation, and files shall be sent to the arbitrators after written approval of the company.

 

Taking the relevant regulation and the ITU ARI Teknokent Start-up Evaluation Criteria into consideration, the Arbitrators thoroughly evaluate the company’s projects for R&D and/or Design content, working schedule, availability of resources to carry out these projects (past project experiences, know-how, human resources, financial resources, market activities, etc), organizational structure and other criteria.

 

Specialists complete the Arbitrator evaluation considering the information provided during interviews with the start-up and own judgment, and present a detailed report to the ITU ARI Teknokent Management on the company and its application. This report scores the arbitrators’ opinions, suggestions and final evaluation on the start-up’s activities at ITU ARI Teknokent out of 100 points. Start-ups’ objections to the evaluation results shall be reviewed by the Board of Management. Board of Management’s decisions are binding for the parties.

 

 

Evaluation Commission

 

When the ITU ARI Teknokent Management receives the Arbitrator Evaluation reports, an Evaluation Commission meeting shall be held on the date and time designated by the ITU ARI Teknokent Management, attended by company officials.

 

During this meeting, the company officials make a brief presentation on their company, realized/planned projects, etc, and answer questions of members of the Evaluation Commission.

 

Acting according to definitions and objectives indicated pursuant to the regulation and the ITU ARI Teknokent start-up evaluation criteria, the Evaluation Commission give an evaluation score out of 100 to the start-up based on...

 

 

- the main application file,

- arbitrator evaluation reports, and

- information obtained during the Evaluation Commission meeting

 

 

for its activities within the ITU ARI Teknokent Technology Development Area.

 

Evaluation Criteria:

 

The ITU ARI Teknokent Management is responsible for evaluating, assessing and monitoring compliance of the start-ups that applied to operate within the ITU ARI Teknokent TDA with the regulation.

 

When new start-ups complete application procedures for operation within the ITU ARI Teknokent TDA, application files of the start-ups will be reviewed and assessed by the ITU ARI Teknokent Evaluation Commission and the Arbitrators.

During this evaluation process, capacity of the projects as an “R&D project involving adequate R&D activity” and/or a “Design project involving added value and competitive advantage to improve functionality of product(s), develop and differentiate the product(s)” as per the regulation and the aforementioned guidelines will be evaluated, and criteria such as company structure, economic or technological feasibility of the R&D and/or Design projects, cooperation that company wants to establish during the ITU ARI Teknokent TDA activities, and evaluation of R&D and/or Design awareness of the start-up will be taken into consideration.

 

Main criteria that the Arbitrators and the Evaluation Commission take into consideration are as follows:

 

• Technological aspect

• Economic aspect

• Feasibility

• Satisfying the needs

• Integrability with the ITU faculties and students

• Cooperation with ITU academic departments.

 

In addition to this, whether general structure, financial resources and human resources of the applicant comply with nature and objectives of ITU ARI Teknokent and undertaken projects can be completed within the bounds of present possibilities will be taken into consideration.

 

Evaluation Results

 

During the evaluation, the Arbitrators and the Evaluation Commission will evaluate R&D and/or Design knowledge of the start-ups and take certain criteria into consideration, incl. organizational structure of the applicant, compliance of the project length, times to be spent within and out of Teknokent and VAT exemption, commercialization potential, and whether the R&D and/or Design project is capable of enabling development of high technology products with import substitution or export potential, ensuring improvement of product quality or standards, efficiency, production cost-efficiency, producing technological knowledge and establishing an academy-industry cooperation.

 

At the end of main application evaluation, scores from the arbitrators and the Evaluation Commission will be averaged, then the start-up will receive a score out of 100. Start-ups that succeeded in application process shall be presented for approval of the Board of Management, then placed in the application list. Start-ups will be notified of their scores and ranking. The company shall receive feedback on any incomplete, weak or other aspects that need to be improved during the evaluation process.

 

When any R&D and/or Design position becomes available for rent at ITU ARI Teknokent, the ITU ARI Teknokent Management offers such positions to start-ups based on their scores. Thus the ITU ARI Teknokent Management ensures equal and objective evaluation of the start-ups independent from their status, financial resources and size, and admission of companies that may use the opportunities by ITU ARI Teknokent and ITU in the best possible way.