Within the scope of the DOKAP Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Project, technical visits to the North East Brabant, North Holland and South Holland regions of the Netherlands between September 25th and September 29th were completed in order to see the good practice examples in the project work packages on site. The data obtained from these visits to the leading clusters, incubation and university research centers in the Netherlands will constitute an input to the creation of strategies to be developed for the actors in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially Industrial Zones, Business Development Centers, Technology Development Zones, Technology Transfer Offices and clusters in the DOKAP Region, and to the design of the support system. DOKAP President Ekrem Yüce, Vice President Yusuf Mengi and the administration project team, as well as Chief Researcher Barış Çarıkcı and Project Manager Can Bayraktar from TÜSSİDE participated in the visits.
On the first day of the program, the AgriFood Capital cluster in Hertogenbosch and the Wageningen University Research Center, one of the world's leading agricultural research centers, were visited and information was received from the officials of the institutions on cluster strategies, issues to be considered in cluster formation and cooperation processes between members, especially for the cluster whose feasibility was made in the DOKAP Region, and opinions were exchanged on various issues. During the meetings, public-industry-private sector collaborations, jointly developed projects and studies carried out in laboratories were also examined.
On the second day of the program, the participants visited YES! Delft Technology and Incubation Center, which is located within Delft University of Technology and hosts startups in various sectors including medical technologies, clean technologies, ICT, industrial solutions and consumer goods. During this visit, the participants were informed about the incubation center's setup, which harnesses the power of innovation to contribute to economic and social progress and develop the knowledge economy, and the support mechanisms designed for students and young entrepreneurs with concrete ideas to transform these ideas into prototypes, products and processes, as well as the funding system of the projects produced within the center.
In the afternoon, a meeting was held with Mehmet Tayfun Erkan, Turkey's Commercial Counselor in The Hague, in order to get information about the investment environment in the Netherlands, regional and national supports for SMEs, services offered to local and foreign companies and regional clusters.
On Wednesday, the Consulate General of Rotterdam was visited and a meeting was held with Consul General Sadin Ayyıldız and Commercial Attaché Ömer Tarık Gençosmanoğlu in order to exchange ideas on what needs to be done in order to present the prominent agricultural products of the DOKAP Region to the Dutch market, how the diversity of marketing channels for producers in the Netherlands is provided and how the development differences between rural and urban areas are eliminated.
On the 4th day of the program, before noon, we visited the Amsterdam office of Makerversity, a London-based organization that provides hands-on learning opportunities for startups, freelancers and manufacturing businesses, and provides co-creative workspaces and workshops where ideas on digital, 3D, textile, woodworking, etc. are developed and tested, and we observed their practices that bring together people from different fields (entrepreneurs, designers, inventors, technologists, manufacturers and creatives) and encourage them to take action together.
The afternoon leg of the program included a visit to Bezoek Agriport, an initiative started by the Barendse family in 2007, which in less than 10 years has grown into the world's largest orange pepper greenhouse using modern, sustainable and environmentally friendly methods. During the visit, information was received on how innovation can create a synergy between entrepreneurs in the same sector, the added value it will create for the society and the contribution of the innovation ecosystem to the quality of life in the region with the process of creating a common brand with other greenhouses and agricultural enterprises operating in Agriport7 with the clustering approach and joint marketing of excess electricity generated from greenhouses to the nearby Microsoft Data Center.
The program ended on the fifth and last day, Friday, with a visit to the Netherlands-Turkey Chamber of Commerce in Rotterdam. During the meetings, TÜBİTAK TÜSSİDE and DOKAP officials made presentations introducing both their institutions and the Dokap Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Project, as well as various promotional activities to raise awareness about our country.
