Teknokent Defence Industry Cluster (TSSK) is organizing the Third Annual ‘Project Market Day’ event to be held January 2016
Defence Turkey: Mr. Ünal, can you give us some information about the history and main purpose of TSSK?
Teknokent Defence Industry Cluster (TSSK) was established in 2010 among the defence, aerospace and security companies at the Middle East Technical University Technology Park (ODTU Teknokent) and in the beginning and it became a common platform for all the companies operating in defense, aerospace & security and also placed in all technoparks in Ankara, not just at ODTU Teknokent. As of now, TSSK hosts 93 defence, aerospace &security companies doing R&D and product development. These companies have complementary vertical expertise that provides added value to each other’s capabilities and are developing new technology products and services for defence, aerospace & security.
The cluster aims to provide added value to generate more synergy and cooperation among its members, with universities for applied research in defence sector, and with major contractors in the market. The ultimate goals are to fulfil the requirements of Turkish Armed Forces and to position the Turkish defence industry as a significant player in the world market through high technology solutions, products and services presented to international market.
Defence Turkey: Can you please explain us the expertise and capacity within TSSK?
TSSK is comprised of SMEs operating in the fields of manned and unmanned vehicles; advanced materials, CBRN technologies, protective vehicles and material technologies; human - machine interface; cryptography, coding and encryption, electronic intelligence systems; modelling and simulation, simulation systems; communication, electronic and information systems; embedded electronic systems; image processing; sensors and electronic systems, data link technologies as well as the various related engineering services such as testing, calibration, modelling and maintenance. The driving force of the cluster are the R&D projects stimulated by the synergy between university, industry and research. The cluster members employ around 2200 R&D personnel and at any point in time, around 400 active R&D projects are being conducted for defence industry by the members of TSSK.
The cluster’s turnover in 2014 was above 500 million TL, nearly 90 million TL of which was export-based. About 70 percent of this export performance was achieved by the SMEs within the cluster, which is a clear indication of the quality of the technical workforce and the economic size of TSSK, as well as its contribution to Turkey’s technological development. We believe that, with improved collaboration within the cluster, these numbers will even be higher.
Defence Turkey: What is the main target of TSSK?
As you know, the cluster concept is gaining popularity in both Turkey and throughout the world. The concept highlights an industrial synergy model emphasising the SMEs (Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises) and the contribution of specialized and efficient structuring to economy. This is also in line with SSM’s industrial strategies to widen the industrial base and also to increase the vertical expertise in the industry.
TSSK aims to achieve the following targets by providing synergy among its members aimed to develop and produce sustainable products via industry-industry cooperation and industry-university cooperation that will provide important contribution to our country to have indigenous defence & aerospace platforms and systems and also to enable them to be as competitive as possible in the export market as well.
In order to achieve these targets, TSSK will do;
The development of new products and technologies through effective and complementary interactions between players assuming different roles within the techno-park setting – such as industries, universities and research organizations; and
Ensuring the development, expansion and sustainability of new R&D and product ideas within this ecosystem that, in line with the commercialization objectives, lead to an increase in market share.
Defence Turkey: What can you say about the TSSK’s activities in terms of events? And would you also inform us about your upcoming Project Market Day?
We are currently organizing joint training activities in various areas to promote specialization among TSSK members in areas that would enhance their competitiveness, especially in foreign markets. In addition, by drawing upon the cluster-related incentives provided by the Ministry of Economy, we are also able to finance some cluster activities such as needs analysis, training, consultancy and international marketing activities. These support efforts and activities will continue in the upcoming period.
Last year and the year before, TSSK organized a number of events with SSM and other organizations within the sector, including SaSaD, where issues such as human resource- and intellectual property-related problems in the sector were discussed by the relevant sectorial parties and organizations. These events resulted in the establishment of a number of plans and action points for the future, with particular focus on finding common grounds between the participating parties. Moreover, some industry events with foreign countries and road show of foreign companies having offset commitments in Turkey under TSSK participation are also performed successfully. These types of events and activities will be organized anew in the upcoming period with new agenda items.
The current ecosystem formed by ODTU Teknokent and TSSK includes companies with different capabilities, and it is our belief that this environment should foster the development of cooperation between these companies as part of an overall synergistic structure. For example, SDT is one of the leading companies that acts in line with this cooperation-based principle, and which can effectively lay the basis for collaborative activities. There are also other companies within the cluster than can assume a similar role in other areas, being in a better position to act as a “mentor”, so to speak, to other companies. Accordingly, our members are able to turn increasingly to intra-cluster cooperation, thereby enriching their portfolio with output generated by the capabilities developed within the cluster.
In the current and upcoming periods, TSSK will conduct extensive activities to ensure that its members can take on an effective role in new and large-scale programs, such as the Regional Aircraft Project, the Turkish Fighter Development (TF-X) Program, the Indigenous Helicopter Project and cyber security projects. In this context, TSSK plans to hold various training sessions in the first quarter of 2016, aiming to increase the competitiveness and technical competencies of its members in the relevant areas, while also assisting its members in gaining access to various public support programs. To diversify the areas of activity and the customer portfolio of TSSK companies, we will continue to work in the upcoming period on promoting their activities in civil areas through emphasis on dual-use technologies.
Moreover, international cooperation is another area that we are focused on. Therefore, we as TSSK, with our member companies, to participate in leading international fairs, utilizing the cluster-related incentives of the Ministry of Economy and organize B2B meetings with important international players. With an international focus on business development and competitiveness, ODTU Teknokent opened an office in Washington D.C. last year, in order to boost the internalization efforts of the companies. Soon, we hope to create success stories.
In 2016, we plan to continue our “Project Market Day’’ initiative, as we did back in 2010 and 2014 under SSM’s participation and TUBİTAK’s support as well as the participation of large scale players in our sector such as Aselsan, TAI, Roketsan, Havelsan, FNSS and Otokar. We believe that Project Market represents highly important goals and objectives. Although we had hoped to organize this event within 2015, we were unable to do it due to the busy schedule of the sector for this year. This event will be done on January 14, 2016 at ODTU KKM (Cultural and Convention Center). We have already discussed with the major players in the sectorregarding their essential support and participation in this event and we expect the major players to be there to generate synergy between the large-scale players and TSSK companies within this environment. We kindly invite everyone to join “TSSK Project Market Day” at ODTU KKM on January 2016.
