8 Incubation Centers Entrepreneurs Can Apply To

An entrepreneur is someone who turns an idea into an income-generating project. And the biggest challenge for an entrepreneur is transforming their idea into a project and
making it generate revenue. Today, very few people can bring their idea to the startup stage, and even those who do may experience a very challenging process during the startup phase. Centers that support entrepreneurs at this point — taking work at the idea or
project stage and turning it into a startup, and then a startup into a company — were established to solve these problems. These centers are called “Incubation Centers.”

Incubation centers provide entrepreneurs with mentoring, financial support, office space,
and various productivity programs. In this article, we will talk about some incubation centers that entrepreneurs can apply to.

ITU Seed (İTÜ Çekirdek)

ITU Seed, established within Istanbul Technical University, was founded within ITU Technopolis. It has
been supporting entrepreneurs since 2012. To date, it has supported more than 2,400 ventures and more than 5,400 entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who apply to ITU Seed are supported in 3 different categories at the end of the preliminary evaluation process. Various types
of support are provided to ventures in these categories, called Pre-Incubation, Big Bang, and Incubation. Entrepreneurs applying to ITU Seed are provided with opportunities from companies and services such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM, and Radore. ITU
Seed, which stands out with its successful ventures and mentors from many different sectors, is located within ITU Technopolis, on the Ayazağa Campus.

Kworks

Established in 2015 within Koç University, Kworks has contributed to very significant projects
since its founding and has supported the growth of 93 ventures to date. The survival rate of ventures that join Kworks is around 79%. This shows that they select ventures meticulously and that the vast majority of ventures that go through the acceleration program
continue to thrive. It is the incubation center for well-known ventures such as Scorp and Kolay IK. With major companies of Koç Holding as stakeholders, Kworks is also an incubation center supported by large firms such as Yıldız Holding and L’Oréal. Kworks, which has
supporters like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, and Oracle, is located at Golden Plaza in Şişli.

Bilkent Cyberpark

Founded in 2004 within Bilkent University, it offers various types of support to technology-focused ventures. It provides various
opportunities including office space, financial support, and mentoring. Cyberpark, which has supported many technology-intensive ventures to date, continues to accept applications. Located within Bilkent University in Ankara, Cyberpark also works in collaboration with
Bilkent University’s Technology Transfer Office.

Türk Telekom Pilot

Established within Türk Telekom to support ventures and entrepreneurs, Pilot has been serving as an incubation center since 2013. Through Pilot, many types of support are provided to
ventures. Ventures that join Pilot can benefit from many opportunities such as collaboration opportunities with Türk Telekom, financial support, training, mentoring, office space, and technology infrastructure. Accepting applications during certain periods of the
year, Pilot organizes a 12-week program for the ventures that join. At the end of this program, value-generating ventures present to investors at an event called Demo Day. Applications to Pilot, which provides mentoring support from entrepreneurs and experts from many
sectors, can be made online.

Sabancı University SUCool

Established within Sabancı University, SUCool was founded in 2014. Having supported many successful ventures, SUCool provides support to ventures under various programs. Ventures accepted to SUCool
are enrolled in an 8-week training program. During this training process, mentoring support can be received from experienced people in the industry. It offers various opportunities such as office space and discounted or free services. SUCool, which places importance
on mentoring and business development, supports ventures with many mentors. SUCool, which supports new ventures or ventures with qualified teams that have passed certain stages, is located on the Sabancı University campus and accepts online applications.

METU
Technopolis ATOM

Some incubation centers can serve specific fields. ATOM, established within METU Technopolis, is one of them. Founded under the name Animation Technologies and Game Development Center, ATOM supports game developers and animation-focused
ventures. ATOM, which continues to accept applications, evaluates them based on various criteria and offers various types of support to teams that pass the evaluation stage. Ventures that join ATOM receive various types of support for one year, including open office
space, infrastructure and software, university collaboration, mentoring from experts in the field, training, and business development. Applications to ATOM, which aims to develop the game sector in Turkey, can be made online.

Boğaziçi University
Entrepreneurship Network

The Boğaziçi University Entrepreneurship Network, founded under the name HayalET, supports ventures in various categories. Known by names such as Dream Bigg and DreamBU, Dream BU among these programs serves as an incubation center for
ventures. Dream Bigg is a support program for young technology and innovation-focused entrepreneurs. Applications can be made online for this program, which provides grant support of up to 200,000 TL.

inventIST

Established within Istanbul University with
the support of the Istanbul Development Agency, inventIST is a pre-incubation and incubation center. Offering many types of support to help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life, inventIST provides opportunities such as mentoring, financial support, and open office
space. Having contributed to more advanced work within the incubation center, inventIST stands out with the advantages it offers to ventures.

The incubation centers we have listed allow the entrepreneurship ecosystem in our country to develop with the support
and specialized areas they provide to ventures. By applying to these and similar other incubation centers, support can be obtained for technology, innovation, and mobile-focused projects. While gaining admission to high-performing incubation centers is more difficult,
being there is more important both for accessing the mentor network and for benefiting from the available resources.

Abdullah Altunbaş

Content Writer

Netinternet Bilişim Teknolojileri A.Ş.'de teknik konularda liderlik yapıyorum. 15 yıldır bu alanda çalışıyorum ve özellikle sistem yönetimi, ağ teknolojileri ve yazılım geliştirme konularına odaklanıyorum.