ISTANBUL

Türkiye is expanding its support structure for startups throughout their journey — from first contact with the ecosystem and company formation, to sustainable growth and ultimately global expansion, Türkiye’s Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir said on Wednesday.

Kacir said Türkiye sees technology entrepreneurship as the main engine of its next success stories, adding: "Our goal is to build a startup ecosystem where a good idea is never wasted due to a lack of opportunity."

Innovation-friendly regulation, developed in close dialogue with founders and investors, allows new business models to emerge, grow and compete, he stressed at the Take Off Istanbul Startup Summit in Istanbul.

The two-day event, starting Wednesday, is organized by the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry and Türkiye's Investment and Finance Office, with Anadolu Agency serving as the global communication partner.

"We are aligning our policies and projects with this vision. We are investing heavily to equip (the) young generation with the skills of the future," he noted.

Kacir said Türkiye recognizes that fast and flexible access to finance is critical for founders to turn bold ideas into real projects and real projects into global success stories.

"Early-stage companies rarely fit the criteria of traditional, collateral-based finance — this is a global reality, in Türkiye as elsewhere,” he said, adding:

"That is why, as the Ministry of Industry and Technology, we have broadened the capital pipeline available to entrepreneurs."

Kacir highlighted that Türkiye-based gaming studios have created global hits enjoyed by hundreds of millions of players, and that beyond gaming, high-growth Turkish startups in grocery delivery, fintech and AI are shaping user experience and setting new standards across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

Until 2019, no Turkish technology startup had achieved unicorn status — a valuation of $1 billion or more — but Türkiye now has seven unicorns, "which we refer to as turcorns," the minister said.

"Six of these turcorns have been directly supported by our ministry, we regard these outcomes as a clear signal of what is possible when vision, talent and capital come together," he said.

"That is why we have set ourselves an ambitious goal, by 2030, to see 100,000 tech startups emerge from Türkiye and for our turcorns to reach a combined valuation of $100 billion."

He said the country is also rolling out new programs to give its startups a solid runway to scale; the Turcorn 100 Program offers end-to-end support to scale-ups on their path to global markets.

"35 Turcorn candidates have been supported not only by the government but also program partners providing market access and experience," he added.

- Türkiye's R&D figures

Touching on the country's achievements in production, exports and supply chains, the minister said Türkiye is confident that this momentum in industry will continue, because along the way the country has built a powerful research and development (R&D) and innovation infrastructure.

Since the early 2000’s, Türkiye has increased annual R&D expenditures from $1.2 billion to $20 billion, raising the share of R&D in national income from 0.5% to 1.5%, he said.

"The growth in our skilled workforce is equally remarkable; the number of full-time equivalent R&D personnel has increased from 29,000 to more than 310,000 today," Kacir noted.

This steady increase in capacity has strengthened the country’s ability to develop and produce advanced technologies, he added.

"Our defense industry stands at the forefront of this transformation. For Türkiye, surrounded by multiple regional crises and facing complex security challenges, relying on others for critical defense systems was never a sustainable option," he said.