Entrepreneurs get together in “shared minds”

Izmir University of Economics (IUE) participates in the ‘Covid19 Shared Minds Platform’, a social responsibility project co-created by almost 50 universities, companies, and institutions from different parts of Turkey, to provide support to aspiring entrepreneurs. IUE academics and entrepreneurship specialists provide training in the platform established to provide support to entrepreneurs aiming to develop innovative solutions and practices to the problems caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. With its academics and specialists, Izmir University of Economics, which represents the Aegean Region in the platform, provide commercialization support to aspiring entrepreneurs with its incubation program and help them find funds in this challenging period. Sevay İpek Aydın, Director of IUE Creative Economy Research and Application Center, and Taylan Demirkaya, Lecturer at IUE Department of Business Management, support entrepreneurs to generate innovative ideas by providing mentoring to them.

Seda Çakmak, who oversees the entrepreneurship unit at IUE Technology Transfer Office, gave the following information, “Institutions and organizations that brought the platform into action conduct webinars and training on entrepreneurship and innovation regarding Covid-19 pandemic. By means of this platform, necessary support will be provided to help mature the ideas of entrepreneurs quickly and implement in a short time with the help of nearly 100 mentors. We will help the aspiring entrepreneurs, who apply from our region and who are considered successful, with their commercialization processes with the incubation program and guide them in finding funds.” 

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

Sevay İpek Aydın, Director of IUE Creative Economy Research and Application Center, said, “As one of the mentors invited nationwide under different specializations, I am very proud to represent our university. Project ideas from 7 different fields are being collected for investors. The purpose is to bring fast and qualified products together with the investment. As a mentor, I provide support to ‘arts, sports, entertainment, tourism' group entrepreneurs. Our main effort is to create innovative solutions to the 'new normal' that will occur post Covid-19.”  

UNIVERSITY SUPPORT IS ESSENTIAL

Pointing out the importance of support provided by universities on entrepreneurship ecosystem, Taylan Demirkaya, Lecturer at IUE Department of Business Management, said, “Shared Minds Platform is a very valuable formation which brings entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, and investors together regarding the situation the whole world and our country is in. We make sure the platform works more effectively and facilitate the creation of initiatives with a positive social impact. It is very important for universities to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially in such crisis situations. We do our best to ensure this.”