FAQ
Short answers to common questions.
TEKMER is the Turkish acronym for Technology Development Centre. Ankara University TEKMER is one of them: a centre established and operating within the university under KOSGEB's Technology Centre Support Programme, offering pre-incubation, incubation and post-incubation support so an idea can become a product and a company. It gathers knowledge, mentoring, infrastructure and collaboration under one roof. We tell the road ahead in six steps: Idea, Pre-incubation, Incubation, Acceleration, Scale-up and Give Back to the Ecosystem.
The two sit at different ends of the same ecosystem. A TEKMER looks after the early stage: it works with teams that still only have an idea or have just incorporated, and it is supported through the KOSGEB programme. A technopark is established under Law No. 4691 and hosts mature R&D companies. They are not rivals but two halves of one route: a venture is born in a TEKMER and can grow in a technopark.
Anyone with a technology-based idea: founders who have built a team or are about to, academics who want to turn research into a product, students who want to begin while still at university, technology companies looking for support and a network, and businesses that want to build R&D capacity together with the university. Applications stay open all year round; there is no window to wait for.
Yes. Owning a company is not a condition of applying. The Pre-incubation step exists for exactly this: teams that want to validate an idea before they incorporate set off with training, mentoring, advisory support and business-model work. If incorporating becomes necessary later, that is a step on the journey rather than a barrier, and we stay alongside you through it.
We work regardless of sector. From artificial intelligence to health, from energy to agri-food, from software to materials, every team building technology follows the same road. Being multi-sector is not the same as being unfocused: what these teams share is the method — name the problem, validate it, build the prototype, reach the first customer. If you are unsure whether your idea fits that description, write anyway; we look at it together at pre-assessment.
Five steps: you fill in the form; your application goes through a pre-assessment for eligibility and maturity; we hold an introductory meeting with the team and the technical board then reviews it; the outcome comes in writing with its reasoning; on acceptance your programme and mentor are matched and the journey begins. We are looking for a clear problem definition, not a polished deck. We tell you in writing what follows each step, so you are never left waiting in silence.
At TEKMER, academics can turn research results into a venture, found technology-based companies, build joint R&D projects with industry, bring their students into entrepreneurship, and meet investors and industry representatives. An academic who would rather not start a company of their own can take part as a mentor or an adviser instead. The road from the laboratory to the market starts here: TEKMER.