Innovation Courses Class Up: Innovative Business Ideas from the Classroom to the Investor
January 12, 2024 - Office of Press and Public Relations
Students presented high-potential innovative business ideas they developed in their innovation courses directly to investors.
In an event titled "From the Classroom to Investors: Innovative Business Ideas Presentation Program," organized under GTU Technopark's coordination at Gebze Technical University (GTU) Congress and Cultural Center, innovation students came together with potential business partners and investors. The students demonstrated how their innovations provided solutions to real-world problems they encountered.
Bachelor's and master's degree students from the Department of Industrial Engineerimng under GTU's Faculty of Engineering presented a variety of business ideas, mostly centered around mobile applications, including LoyalConnect, Smartpath, InternMate, Pay and Go, BusinessX, StudyBuddy, Arkedish, and Hobby-Mate. These ideas were presented to potential investors, business partners, university administrators, academics, and numerous students attending the event.
Prof. Dr. Hacı Ali Mantar, the Rector of Gebze Technical University, who attended the program, stated, "This sharing environment directly aligns with our university's vision and is a working model that we encourage. The quality of the course contents we offer, the focus of our students on real-life solutions, the bridging of theory and practice by faculty members, and the close monitoring of these outputs by our Technopark companies, all taking place on our university campus, is gratifying. We seize every opportunity to spread this culture and awareness at our university."
Dr. Suat Genç, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering under GTU's Faculty of Engineering who teaches the innovation courses, expressed that the event marks the initial steps of a national awakening within the scope of "from the classroom to investors," and said: "The engine of the world economy has been innovation. The most effective source of innovation is the young minds sitting in university classrooms. The opportunities our students have, such as easy access to infinite knowledge, easy communication through foreign languages, opening up to the world through the internet, and following trends through social networks, are quite similar to those of a student living on a university campus in California. These opportunities are sufficient to open the doors to innovation. What is needed is the creation of a convenient culture, setting achievable goals, encouraging disciplined and patient work, using effective methods, and providing experienced guidance. We have realized an example of this. Each student group has independently developed innovative solutions to problems they selected from their lives in a short period. This has excited us and, at the same time, has been a development that increases our motivation for the future. We have set a good example for our university and our country. I congratulate all our students for their world-class work."
Yusuf Çalık, the General Manager of GTU Technopark, who organized the event, commented on the matter, saying, "Seeing all our stakeholders here is gratifying. We are always here to open doors to the business world for our researchers and students with our companies. This event has provided us with a new source in terms of innovation, and we are pleased."
