What is Technopark?
Countries wanting to have a significant share from the rapidly globalizing world economy are investing heavily in science and technology instead of traditional productions. In this context, science parks, techno parks and innovation centers, where R&D activities take place, also gain great importance. Techno parks, whose principal purpose is to increase the wealth of the society by supporting the culture of innovation and competitiveness of knowledge-based companies, manage and promote the flow of information and technology between universities, R&D institutions, firms, and the sector. Facilitating the formation and growth of innovative companies with the incubation centers they host, Techno parks provide high-quality spaces to these companies and provide value-added services.
The first examples of Techno parks were observed during World War II and the first one was founded in 1952 in the USA in the area of Northern California under the name Stanford Research Park (Silicon Valley). The second Teknopark of the world is founded at Heriot-Watt University in England in 1972. Techno parks became rapidly widespread around the world by the end of 1980 and there are examples of Techno parks in many countries today.
Technoparks in Turkey
In Turkey, technological expertise programs continue at full speed and the development of the national technologies is encouraged by the cooperation between the public sector, industry and the university. According to the information announced by the Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry, and Technology; 67 of the 85 Technology Development Zones continue to operate, while 18 of them are still not operational due to the continuing infrastructure works.
What is the Difference of Teknopark Istanbul?
Technoparks, which are encouraged by state or local administrations since they speed up the technological developments, contribute to the development of value-added products that would increase the exports, create employment and they encourage the entrepreneurship and invention-oriented activities, are often associated with science parks, technocities, and universities or they are often managed by these institutions. Most of the Techno park that started to be established in our country in 1980 are the Techno parks that are owned by the universities. Hence, since Teknopark Istanbul is the only Teknopark that is not associated with one university but is bringing together more than twelve universities and is a center that establishes the cooperation between the public sector, university, and private sector, it differs from other peers.