In his opening speech Prof. Arif Ergin, the President of Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) stated that the Foundation participated in the Innovation Leaders Scholarship Program, prepared by the Royal Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom, to increase the capacity of researchers and that 24 successful entrepreneurs benefited from such program in the UK. Emphasizing that they encourage entrepreneurship at every level, Prof. Ergin stated that TÜBİTAK is the partner of the Newton Fund, which was launched in 2014.

Prof. Ergin said, “The Fund receives the support of £8 million annually until 2021 and has been given the name of Kâtip Çelebi-Newton Fund for its partnership with Turkey. Within the scope of the fund, bilateral cooperation in science and technology is being conducted in order to establish partnerships between Turkish and British scientists, researchers, universities, research centers and private sector representatives. TÜBİTAK participated in the Innovation Leadership Scholarship Program, which was prepared by the Royal Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom to increase the capacity of researchers and 24 successful entrepreneurs benefited from that program in the UK. Referring to the joint research cooperation initiated for the field of development, Prof. Ergin said, “We have launched five academic calls with 225 applications and 26 projects supported by the British Council up to now, and we have allocated 14 million TL (est. $4 million).”  Noting that in the last decade the allocate of R&D resources has enhanced considerably, Prof. Ergin stated that necessary studies are being performed to increase this further.