The awards were given in 13 categories: Executive of the Year, Team of the Year, Company of the Year, Defense Industry Company of the Year, Company of the Year that Benefitted the Most from Incentives, Startup Company of the Year, Incubator Company of the Year, Product of the Year, Project of the Year, Company of the Year that Generated the most Projects, Company with the Highest Exports of the Year, Company of the Year that Provided the Most Employment Opportunities and University of the Year.

Baykar Makina General Manager Mr. Haluk Bayraktar participated in the ceremony as a guest speaker and shared an overview and recent developments of Baykar National UAV with the participants. Mr. Bayraktar noted that the technoparks, R&D centers and incubation centers are the centers that will determine the future of Turkey. He stated that from the start of their journey 12 years ago, they are now moving forward with a total of 250 personnel, 140 of which are engineers and 110 are technicians. Mr. Bayraktar noted “We delivered 12 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to the TAF and 6 UAVs to the Security General Directorate. Within this context, we aim to support 1001 technology teams at secondary and high schools, and universities by 2023 in order to attract the interest of young people.”

Following the speeches, the awards were presented to the representatives of the companies who were entitled to receive the awards in 13 categories.

Teknopark Istanbul performs its activities as a technology development zone established by the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries and Istanbul Chamber of Commerce. It contributes to Turkey’s technology development capacity by local and foreign entrepreneurs. As of 2017, Teknopark İstanbul now hosts 170 R&D companies and 2,750 R&D personnel.