The "Hello Tomorrow Global Summit," the world's most comprehensive global deep-tech entrepreneurship summit, which saw applications from 4,500 entrepreneurs from 119 countries, brought together leaders in science and technology-based entrepreneurship for the 5th time in Paris this year.
The global winner of the summit, which brought together Turkey's best technology-producing entrepreneurs selected by Hello Tomorrow, was RxAll, which won a prize of 100,000 euros.
The "International Deep-tech Summit" by Hello Tomorrow, established by science & technology entrepreneurs for science and technology entrepreneurs, Hello Tomorrow Global Summit, once again gathered the world's science and technology professionals for the 5th time this year. With the support of Hello Tomorrow's global partner BNP Paribas, the summit held on March 14 – 15, 2019 brought together startups preparing to change the world with science and technology and over 200 CV and CVC investors.
As the "Davos of the deep-tech ecosystem," the summit also featured the winning entrepreneurs in 4 categories (energy & environment, health & biotechnology, industry & new materials, data & artificial intelligence) selected from among 4,500 applications from 119 countries through a special competition organized for Turkey.
About Hello Tomorrow, which can provide support funds of up to 3 million euros and brings mature science and technology entrepreneurs into the deep-tech ecosystem, Co-founder and Deputy General Manager Arnaud de la Tour stated, "The startup applications we received this year showed us that deep-tech innovation can emerge from all over the world and can provide root solutions to the major challenges faced by societies today."
RxAll, which develops a digital platform that allows the quality of medicines to be tested through IoT-based nano scanners and mobile applications, became the owner of the 100,000-euro award. Andreas Lambropoulos, Head of Strategic Initiatives at BNP Paribas IFS remarked, "As an international financial group in a rapidly changing global context, we aim to contribute to sustainable and fair growth through the products and services we offer to our clients. Our strategy intersects with that of Hello Tomorrow, which is to support entrepreneurs in developing efficient technological solutions. We are pleased to present this award and contribute to the development of concrete solutions for our future."
The World's Agenda on Science and Technology Was Discussed at the "Davos of the Deep-tech Ecosystem"
This year's Hello Tomorrow Global Summit brought together 1,000 deep-tech startup founders, 800 science innovators, 400 industry leaders, and over 200 CV and CVC investors.
Over two days in 4 different halls (Main Stage, Deeptech Academy, Startup Showcase, Challenge Stage), the summit showcased leaders and innovators of the deep-tech ecosystem. Prof. Dr. George Church, known as the founder of synthetic biology from Harvard University, inspired attendees with his talk on "Bringing extinct species back to life through genetic engineering." Additionally, Heike Riel from IBM Research Frontiers delivered a talk titled "Unleashing the power of Quantum Computing," Andras Forgacs from Modern Meadow spoke on "Biofabrication transforming the world of materials," and Dr. Joanna Bryson, an AI expert, discussed "Studying AI’s ethical challenges," which left a mark on the summit.
Hello Tomorrow Turkey Made Its Mark at the Global Summit
The finalists and selected projects from Turkey showcased their initiatives at this grand meeting, known as the headquarters of science and technology, where Hello Tomorrow Turkey Founder Timur Topalgökçeli shared the success stories of Turkey. Regarding the record participation, Topalgökçeli stated, "Hello Tomorrow Turkey is the first international hub among the 11 hubs that work globally for Hello Tomorrow. We proudly carry out this mission because our country has a very high technology penetration and a vibrant, young startup ecosystem. Today, we are a rapidly growing initiative with more than 3,000 innovators just in Turkey. We saw this at our session that we held specifically for our country at the grand summit in Paris. We achieved participation that exceeded our capacity. We demonstrated the significant journey we've made in the Turkish ecosystem and our valuable success to innovators and investors from more than 100 countries."
Turkey’s Finalist Deep-tech Startups in Paris
Hello Tomorrow Turkey has been working to strengthen our country's deep-tech entrepreneurship ecosystem since 2016. As part of this, last year, it included the Turkey Finals for the first time in the global summit elimination process. This way, startups from Turkey were included in the same evaluation platform as 119 countries. Istanbul ranked 8th for the first time among the 10 cities with the most applications for deep-tech entrepreneurship, surpassing Boston and Toronto.
In the Hello Tomorrow Turkey Finals held in December last year, entrepreneurs competed in 4 categories, and the category winners and finalists were determined. These initiatives, in order, included Energy and Environment category: NanoMatTR (finalist), Health and Biotechnology category: Interact Medical Technologies, Industry and New Materials category: B-PREG, and Data and Artificial Intelligence category: TAZI.AI (TAZI Informatics).
Along with these initiatives and their founders, a record number of startups represented Turkey at the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit.
Additional information note:
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
NanoMaTR (Grand Winner/Turkey First)
Yusuf Ziya Menceloğlu
Founded in partnership with Sabancı University faculty members and Inovent A.Ş., NanoMaTR is an R&D and consulting company engaged in medium-scale production activities in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Material manufacturing focuses on high-tech additives and functional surface coatings and develops technological solutions that target plastics and composites ranging from nano to molecular scale.
DATA & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
TAZI.AI
Zehra Çataltepe and Tanju Çataltepe
Tazi.ai is developing an Automated Machine Learning product that continuously learns from data and people.
QUANT CO
İhsancan Özpoyraz
Quant Co makes artificial intelligence technologies accessible for the energy sector, developing advanced solutions that address the analytical needs of a sector that is undergoing digital transformation and becoming increasingly fragmented.
http://www.quant-co.com/index.html
HEALTH & BIOTECHNOLOGY
Interact Medical Technologies Inc.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Volkan Patoğlu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Erdem, Salih Derici
Aims to increase the intensity, accessibility, and effectiveness of treatments by applying physical therapy exercises through robotic exoskeleton systems. It continuously collects data during the patient's recovery process and offers evidence-based and personalized treatments powered by artificial intelligence. In other words, it designs and develops medical devices that integrate robotic and artificial intelligence technologies to improve the quality of life for individuals with limited mobility.
http://interact-technologies.com/
GEEN Biotechnology
Arda Deniz Dokuzoğlu
By developing programmable cells, it teaches how to better fight viruses and cancer cells.
INDUSTRY & NEW MATERIALS
Strategic Innovative Initiatives (SYG)
Prof. Dr. Tarık Özkul
Metal fatigue is the leading cause of catastrophic accidents. A revolutionary fatigue sensor has been designed to detect the fatigue accumulation on structural elements before cracks start. The sensor operates without a battery, offering lifetime use and can be monitored remotely. Aiming to develop strategic products beneficial to humanity by reducing costs in strategic areas, this initiative is developing a series of projects and has secured patents to enhance ease of use along with building the self-confidence of young generations.
http://stratejikgirisimler.com/vizyon-ve-misyon/
Hello Tomorrow's other initiatives included in the top 500 and participated in the summit:
Vispera
Targeted towards market research firms, fast-moving consumer brands, and retail companies, Vispera claims to provide product tracking information with near 100% accuracy regarding these brands' products. Brands requesting information such as shelf placement, brand, quantity, and price have predominantly obtained this information manually thus far. Vispera automates the system using image processing and artificial vision technologies.
Hello Tomorrow Turkey promotional video: