Turkish industry giant Sabanci opened a EUR 2.2 million Technology Center at the Technical University of Munich, an education institution with 18 Nobel Prize winners. Sabanci Holding CEO Cenk Alper said, “We pioneered Turkey in industrialization. Our logo SA was the industrialist of Turkey, now we are the Sabanci of the world. We produce technology for the world.”
Sabanci has joined the technology development ecosystem of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), one of the world’s most prestigious universities with 18 Nobel Prize winners. Sabancı’s group companies Cimsa and Kordsa will innovate for the world on the campus of TUM.
Sabanci Holding CEO Cenk Alper said, “We are proud to lead Turkey in R&D. Until today, we had 7 R&D and technology centers, one of which is abroad, within our Building Materials and Industry Groups. With Sabanci Technology Center, we are increasing this number to 8 and launching our first center in Europe.”
“WE ARE TAKING UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COOPERATION TO EUROPE”
Stating that university-industry cooperation plays an important role in Sabanci’s innovation approach, Alper said: “Sabanci University is the main factor that distinguishes Sabanci from other industry groups. The most concrete example of this is our Composite Technologies Center of Excellence (KTMM), one of Europe’s leading university-industry collaborations in the field of composites, implemented in cooperation between Sabanci University and Kordsa. Enerjisa companies are members of the MIT Energy Initiative Future Energy Systems Center in the USA. Through this center, we are taking our university-industry collaborations to Europe. The Technical University of Munich has a deep experience in commercializing academic ideas and integrating them into daily life, especially in the fields of civil engineering and mechanical engineering. I believe that as a result of the joint work of our teams, we will create new success stories in this field as well.”
Alper also informed that Çimsa and Kordsa have employees from 6 different nationalities at the center.
Two units, two female executives!
Cimsa and Kordsa have teams at the Sabanci Technology Center. Both teams are headed by female executives. According to information provided by the Sabanci Group, UNESCO Institute of Statistics data show that the rate of female employees in R&D activities worldwide is below 30 percent. Berrak Avcioglu heads all R&D activities at both Cimsa’s R&D Center Formulhane in Mersin and the center in Munich. Kordsa’s team at TUM is headed by Elif Erdogan.
ENERGISA-MIT STUDY FOR ENERGY TRANSITION
Underlining that different models are possible in university-industry collaborations, Cenk Alper also made statements about the MIT Energy Initiative Future Energy Systems Center, of which Enerjisa companies are members: “This is an industry research consortium that provides insights on how best to navigate the energy transition based on multi-sectoral analysis of emerging technologies and the developing economy. This center carries out projects on electric energy, energy storage, carbon management and energy-intensive sectors, which it has identified as decarbonization strategies in its portfolio. In this context, we can request information on the topics and projects we would like to receive support for.”
Investments reached TRY 33 billion in 9 months
Reminding that they had announced they would double their investment rate in the next five years compared to the previous five years, Alper said that they continue in line with this road map. The company decided to invest 25 percent of their non-bank investments in their existing business lines and 75 percent in the ‘new economy’, Alper reported. “New technology means energy and climate technologies, advanced material technologies and digital technologies for us. In the first 9 months of this year, we increased our investments in TL terms by 124 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching TL 33.3 billion. In the same period, 75 percent of our investments were made in the new economy in line with our strategy” Alper said.
Cimsa CEO Umut Zenar:
CIMSA WILL CREATE SYNERGY WITH FORMULHANE
We are leading the transformation of the building materials business line from ‘gray to green’. We are the world leader in white cement. We are growing steadily in calcium aluminate cement (CAC). The most important factor that has brought us to this point is undoubtedly R&D and innovation. With the Sabanci Technology Center, we are now taking this competence to the global arena. We will commercialize the brilliant ideas that will emerge from the synergy between our R&D center Formulhane in Mersin and the Sabancı Technology Center by turning them into products, while at the same time offering our innovative solutions developed by our R&D teams to the European market through Munich.
Kordsa CEO Ibrahim Ozgur Yildirim:
WE RAISED OUR TARGET WITH ASIA PASIFIC
Being close to the customer has been one of Kordsa’s main principles since the day it was founded, but we also strive for innovation wherever we are in the world. We took the first step of this approach, which we define as ‘Innovate Everywhere’ in the Kordsa world, with the Asia Pacific Technical Center we opened in Indonesia in recent months. Now, with the Sabancı Technology Center, we are taking another pioneering step to carry this innovation power to Europe. Today, we are the world’s leading company in the tire reinforcement sector. As Kordsa, we reinforce two out of every three aircraft tires and one out of every three automobile tires in the world.
