WINNERS OF THE MERCEDES-BENZ TÜRK STARTUP HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED

Winners of Mercedes-Benz Türk's StartUP competition that began last March, have been announced. With 485 entrepreneurs from all across Turkey, registered to the event; this year's top 10 Startups have been gifted a special development program called "StartUP Boost" and an exclusive Germany trip with Mercedes-Benz. Among the top 10, 3 Startups that were awarded in 3 different categories of "Social Benefit", "Technology" and "Theme", have been each given a prize of 50 thousand TL. The award winners have received their awards from Mercedes-Benz Türk CEO Süer Sülün, Business Development Director Didem Daphne Özensel, R&D Centre Director Mustafa Üstertuna and Mercedes-Benz Türk CIO Gökçe Bezmez at the award ceremony.

Süer Sülün: "We Continue to Reward Innovative Initiatives"

In his speech at the award ceremony, Mercedes-Benz Türk CEO Süer Sülün said: "We believe that Turkey's sustainable development is only possible by the growth and development of socially beneficial, innovative and technology-centric ideas. Last year, we began the Mercedes-Benz Türk StartUP competition on the occasion of our 50th anniversary and this year, our highly acclaimed competition has been announced with its 'Sustainable Cities and Living Spaces' theme under the guidance of Sustainable Development Goals. It makes us very proud to see that the innovative solution creating knowledge, experience as well as product development capacity of young people in technology and innovation, increase with each day. As Mercedes-Benz Türk, we continue to reward innovative initiatives al across the country, with our trust in the future of Turkey."

Mehmet Ali Çalışkan, one of the jury members as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at YADA Foundation, has also made a speech during the award ceremony event, about the importance of social benefit at Startups. Then, Zehra Doruk, another one of the jury members and the Founder of Open Innovation Association, has talked about the innovations in the startup world and assessed the innovative approaches of the projects that applied to the competition. The event continued with Mercedes-Benz Türk CIO Gökçe Bezmez's speech about Mercedes-Benz Türk's attention to technology and the values it has created in this field, and ended with the award ceremony.

"Social Benefit Award" Goes to Women Entrepreneur

Social benefit award went to Duygu Yılmaz's Biolive initiative where she produced bioplastic out of olive seeds. Biolive takes olive seed wastes from factories and turns them into antimicrobial bioplastic granules. Thus, it produces a type of plastic that is suitable for human health, pure enough to be edible and can very quickly transform into fertilizer when discarded into soil. These materials can be used in different areas such as antibacterial food packaging films, on-board materials and white goods. Biolive has developed an important alternative against petrol-based plastic and it helps protect the environment with its innovative approach.

"Sustainable Cities Theme Award" Goes to Ankara

Theme award went to Hasan Basri Tosun's Sensgreen initiative that measures the usage characteristics of buildings using wireless sensors to manage their air conditioning systems through its optimization system that works over the cloud. Thanks to its artificial intelligence algorithms, Sensgreen learns the comfort intervals of the users through the simple feedback of individuals, controls the air conditioning systems accordingly and achieves up to 30% of energy savings. Sensgreen aims to raise social awareness on energy efficiency. Its goal is to improve the thermal comfort of office users and therefore, provide a more productive workplace. 

"Technology Award" Goes To İstanbul

Technology award went to Kerem Deveci's Deveci Tech initiative that takes advantage of the vertical axis wind turbines designed to be placed on highways to use natural winds as well as the winds created by vehicles to produce electric energy.

Deveci Tech produces energy by using not just the winds created by vehicles but also natural winds through its Solar panel-supported, hybrid vertical axis wind turbine. It can also measure urban temperature, humidity, wind and CO2 levels with its sensors and IOT platform, while producing energy from its solar energy panel as well. One of Deveci Tech's wind turbines is currently used at the Metrobus station located at İstanbul Vatan Street.

 Applications From 62 Provinces of Turkey

Mercedes-Benz Türk has held the event for the second time this year and it has been organized to support innovative, sustainable and creative ideas and contribute to solutions that benefit the society and environment while making life easier. A total of 485 applications have been to the "Sustainable Cities and Living Spaces" competition from 62 provinces of Turkey.

60 contestants that went through the preliminary selections for the first phase of the competition, then entered a training camp hosted by Starters Hub. In order to be among the top 10, they had to record videos where they narrated their projects and shared it with the jury. The top 10 startups that were determined by the jury's assessment, then participated in the "StartUP Boost Development Program" that was organized by ImpactHub İstanbul. Thanks to its custom-designed content, the program offered the startups a chance to meet investors and the business world, receive new skills that they can use to improve their businesses and meet with experts.

Women Entrepreneurs Receive the Highest Points

It was remarkable that women entrepreneurs have received the highest points among the 60 initiatives that have passed the preliminary selections. 14 out of the 60 total women contestants, meaning 25 percent of them, managed to pass the preliminary selections.