Atatürk Airport terminal buildings are transforming into one of the world’s largest entrepreneurship centers with the Terminal Istanbul Technology and Entrepreneurship Center project. The goal of the ministry with their stakeholders is to make Istanbul one of the top 20 centers of entrepreneurship in the world by 2030, and to have 100 Turcorns and 100,000 technology startups born and grow in Türkiye. In line with these goals, the ministry is launching the Terminal Istanbul Technology and Entrepreneurship Center project together with its stakeholders. Center will move Türkiye’s technology development ambition to the next level.
A total of 400,000 square meters Atatürk Airport terminal will be transformed into the world’s largest technology and entrepreneurship center. The center will be Türkiye’s largest Technopark, which will serve thousands of technology companies and startups on an area of 210,000 square meters indoor space and will have the capacity to organize dozens of events every year. This new generation Technopark will include modern work offices, incubation centers, accelerator programs, co-working spaces, joint prototyping and production centers, and research and development laboratories that will enable innovative projects to be realized. The center will be a meeting point for global technology companies, investors, angels, investment funds and startups.
Terminal Istanbul stakeholder institutions can organize simultaneous acceleration programs from mobility to space technologies, from defense industry to financial technologies and other trended techs.
Center will be an attraction points for global investors, who will have the chance to meet with hundreds of startups in the investment areas which they are interested in. Other Technoparks of Türkiye will be able to launch joint acceleration programs with their collaborations here. Entrepreneurs who are placed in the center will have the opportunity to share their experiences with hundreds of startups in the similar lane.
At Terminal Istanbul, the ministry and its stakeholders will carry out activities that will strengthen the connection of entrepreneurship not only with the business world but also with society. Deneyap technology workshops, science centers, software schools and Children’s University, which will contribute to the development of young people, will take place in this center.
With the Children’s University, the ministry will create an educational environment where 1000 children between the ages of 10-13 will have the opportunity to learn theoretical knowledge in the field of science and technology by experiencing. With Deneyap technology workshops, ministry will include gifted students at the middle and high school level in ‘learning by doing’ and teamwork-based trainings, and simultaneously train 1500 gifted students in competency programs in innovative technology fields. In Terminal Istanbul, more than 1 million visitors are expected annually.
In Terminal Istanbul a new generation software school will be established by the ministry, and the school will offer new generation software training free of charge to young people. This school will train 2000 software developers every year, will be supported by the internship and employment programs of Terminal Istanbul stakeholders. Teknofest teams will benefit from the workshops, development infrastructures and test areas that will be located in the terminal throughout the year.
Terminal İstanbul project has forty stakeholders consisting of ministries, government digital, investment and promotion offices, techno parks, incubators, accelerators, universities, communication service provider companies, global technology companies, government space, innovation and entrepreneurship supporting institutions, Turkish unicorns and business NGOs. ICYF is one of the stakeholders of this breathtaking project.