Entrepreneurship is shifting focus and we must take our place deep within this new focus!
In recent years, there has been a significant amount of work on entrepreneurship, angel investing, and venture capital in Turkey. Technology parks are developing, support is increasing, and I believe entrepreneurship is becoming one of the essential fields. Universities are entering into collaborations and the support for entrepreneurs is increasingly diversifying; meanwhile, entrepreneurship is gradually shifting from a few years ago’s e-commerce/SME focus to a technology focus. It is an undeniable reality that developments like this occur all over the world. However, whether it is the technology eliminating nearly all accessibility issues or the increasing support from other countries or national institutions, keeping the hope alive and making progress is indeed very important.
The perception that has emerged around entrepreneurship in recent years is that it is merely about platforms like Instagram, Airbnb, social media, applications, or e-commerce.
But there is a field that will change the world!
Let’s introduce: Deep-Tech Entrepreneurship, meaning Science and Technology-Focused Entrepreneurship.
Unlike the popular and prominent financial profit-focused technology enterprises mentioned above, deep-tech entrepreneurship refers to initiatives that develop cutting-edge technologies, are unique, hard to replicate, disruptive, and, more importantly, provide solutions to global problems. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, robotics, biotechnology, space technologies…
This ever-expanding list offers just a few examples of the technologies that will change the world.
When looking globally, companies, investors, and universities have started to pivot their focus towards science and technology-oriented entrepreneurship. Additionally, companies that began and grew as digital platforms have taken steps to work in the deep tech direction. Google, IBM, Facebook are among the leaders in this regard.
The research, collaborations, and product developments focused on science and technology are continuous and unending.
From Turkey's perspective, I cannot help but say that markets with high potential, innovative, value-added, and technology-sensitive are among the most suitable markets for technological ventures.
I have read hundreds of articles written by those who said that these fields were limited in Turkey in previous years, and that entrepreneurship was merely about small trades and SMEs. Today, when I take a look, I see that there aren’t enough initiatives emerging from Turkey that will change the world. News about initiatives that have emerged from Turkey and reached global platforms like Yemek Sepeti, mobile applications, dating platforms, and so on reveal how much we have missed! In the past 6 months, as I’ve started to delve deeper into this field, I have seen that yes, today there is science and technology-focused entrepreneurship in Turkey. What is important is to reach them like a mine and polish them as if turning them into a diamond.
Based on all I have mentioned, what I want to say is that in the developing world, support for entrepreneurship is indeed very important. But another important point is to discover and support the initiatives that will change the world, build the future, and provide solutions to global issues!
The future will be shaped by deep tech entrepreneurship, and if we do not discover and support them, we will face the “missing the train” situation that we have seen many times in history.
To build the future with science!
