ENTREPRENEUR FACTORY OF TEXTILE AND APPAREL INDUSTRY TECHXTILE START-UP CHALLENGE STARTS
The entrepreneurship platform of the textile and apparel industry, “TechXtile Start-Up Challenge” is starting for the third time this year with innovations. Entrepreneurs and entrepreneur candidates will be able to apply with their projects as of September 13, 2021, within the scope of the project initiated by Uludağ Textile Exporters Association (UTİB) to create a culture of innovation in the sector and to bring new initiatives to the sector. The application deadline for entrepreneurs is set as October 24.
Stating that they believe that our country has many talents and minds that can be considered treasures, UTİB President Pınar Taşdelen Engin said, “We aim is to support ideas that can create added value in the field of textiles and clothing. To pave the way for startups to reach potential customers. Engin said that they made it possible for anyone over the age of 18 to apply to the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge, by including technology and methods in production, designing innovative products, strengthening university-industry cooperation, and increasing the added value in exports in the field of textiles. “We are waiting for all our entrepreneurs who want to improve themselves with the training we will provide, who aim to bring their projects together with angel investors and Start-Up developers, and who aim to plan their future,” she said.
R&D PROJECT MARKET TURNED INTO AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PLATFORM
The R&D Project Market, which was started by UTİB in 2009 in the textile industry and led to the transformation of 251 projects into cooperation for 10 years, was named TechXtile Start-Up Challenge in 2019. Explaining this process, “We aimed to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the textile and clothing industry in Bursa,” UTİB President Pınar Taşdelen Engin said, “Our program, which we continued in 2019 and 2020 under the name TechXtile Start-Up Challenge, is the most important entrepreneurship competition focused on the textile industry in Turkey. it happened. Despite the pandemic, our program, in which 174 projects competed last year with a record increase, drew attention with the intense participation of our women entrepreneurs.
This year, we took another big step to make our program, which has become a living entrepreneurship platform, more effective. As a result of the workshop we held in March; Of 2021, we transformed into an entrepreneurship platform that gathers all activities related to entrepreneurship under one roof. Our stakeholders are The Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO), Uludağ Clothing and Apparel Exporters Association (UHKİB), Bursa Eskişehir Bilecik Development Agency (BEBKA), and Bursa Technology Coordination and R&D Center(BUTEKOM), we aim to highlight the entrepreneurial aspects of both individual entrepreneurs and companies with the ‘TechXtile Platform’, which will continue throughout the year and will host more than one event. In addition to the ‘Start-Up Challenge’, where the projects of entrepreneur candidates compete, the ‘Innovation League’, where companies will exhibit and compete with other stakeholders, ‘Mind-Idea Meetings’ that develop and inspire the ecosystem, and the ‘Academy’, which includes valuable training. With the ‘Members Club’, which is constantly supported by its membership, we have made it an entrepreneurship platform that lives uninterruptedly and is constantly specialized at the textile level”.
INVESTMENT IN R&D INCREASED THE PRICE OF THE EXPORT UNIT PRICE TO 8 DOLLARS
Stating that R&D and Innovation bring high added value, UTİB Chairman of the Board Pınar Taşdelen Engin said, “Our industry, which directly and indirectly employs more than 2 million people, is the world’s fourth largest exporter in home textiles and the third largest exporter in textiles in Europe. We are also the European leader in production. We are one of the leading and exemplary sectors, with a foreign trade surplus of over 15 million every year. When we look at the export unit price per kilogram, the average of Turkey is 1.12 dollars, the textile industry in general 3, Start-Up Challenge 2021 awards; The Idea Stage Entrepreneur Category (Level Up), in which projects whose initiatives are still at the idea stage, will compete, have passed the idea stage, Entrepreneurs who have developed a product or service with commercialization and scaling potential will compete in three categories, namely the Service Developed Entrepreneur Category (Scale Up) and the Women Entrepreneur Special Award. In the program, where all entrepreneurs who make it to the final can benefit from the professional mentoring support of Ventures & Mentors League CEO Ufuk Batum for 1 year, the other awards are listed as follows:
Level-Up Awards:
To the Top 3 Entrepreneurs;
-Bursa Technical University Technology Transfer Office Online Education and Mentoring Support
-Patent Application Support from Orbis Vista
– Networking with investment networks and pitching opportunities for investors
-Providing 1-year accounting support and meeting one-year office rent expense of the newly established company with the new company establishment award*
*The maximum limit of office rent support is the net minimum wage. In case the company uses a home office, 1/3 of this amount will be paid.
– The opportunity to participate in the BIGG ULUKOZA acceleration program, the training and mentoring service of Bursa Uludağ University Technology Transfer Office, for 3 participants to be selected for the entrepreneurial teams to receive grant support within the TÜBİTAK 1512 Individual Young Entrepreneurship Program*
*These awards will be given on the condition that the conditions of the entrepreneur, academician, or team are suitable and sufficient.
-PEN Software Awards:
-The Opportunity to Present Projects to the Finalists and Textile Industrialists and Investors
Scale-Up Awards:
Category Winner Special Award: A media communication package that will provide the first-placed project owner with visibility in national channels followed by the business world and potential investors.
To the Top 3 Entrepreneurs;
-Bursa Technical University Technology Transfer Office Online Education and Mentoring Support
-Patent Application Support from Orbis Vista
– Networking with investment networks and pitching opportunities for investors
-The Opportunity to Present Projects to Bursa Textile Industrialists and Investors for Entrepreneurs
-Providing the Company’s 1-Year Accounting Support and meeting the one-year office rent expense
– The opportunity to participate in the BIGG ULUKOZA acceleration program, the training and mentoring service of Bursa Uludağ University Technology Transfer Office, for 3 participants to be selected for the entrepreneurial teams to receive grant support within the TÜBİTAK 1512 Individual Young Entrepreneurship Program*
*These awards will be given on the condition that the conditions of the entrepreneur, academician, or team are suitable and sufficient.
-PEN Software Cloud Awards
-The Opportunity to Present Projects to the Finalists and Textile Industrialists and Investors
Woman Entrepreneur Special Awards:
-Providing 1-year accounting support of the company with the new company establishment award and meeting the one-year office rent expense
– 1 Year Membership to ARYA Women Entrepreneurs Platform
-Priority Invitation to Business Workshops
-Invitation to Arya Shopping Fest, Held Once a Year
– Opportunity to Participate in the Mentor Check-Up Program
-Shopping Fest Priority & Free Booth Opening
-The Opportunity to Participate in the Conversation Series on Women with a Word
– Discounted Participation Opportunity to the Transforming Women Award Night
-Entrepreneur Development Training
Program Schedule:
13 September 2021: Applications Start
24 October 2021: Project Deadline
27-28 October 2021: General Entrepreneurship Training for All Participants
30-31 October 2021: General Entrepreneurship Training for All Participants
25 November 2021: Announcement on the Website of the Projects Passing the Pre-selection
11 November 2021: Pitching Training for Eligible Entrepreneurs
20 November 2021: Determination of Semi-Final Projects by the Evaluation Board
21 November 2021: Ongoing Mentoring Process for Finalist Projects
3 December 2021: Pre-Advanced Pitching Presentation Development Training
8-9 December 2021: Advanced Pitching and Award Ceremony Week
