The sixth edition of the Take Off Entrepreneurship Summit was concluded in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with the participation of Turkish officials and the presence of prominent Arab entrepreneurs and investors.
Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatç Cajer said that his country is striving to transfer the success and gains it has achieved in the defense industries to other areas of technology as well.
Kager pointed out that the “Technofest” aviation and space technology festival has become an entrepreneurship factory in Turkey.
“Technovest” is considered an important way to discover the talents of young participants to showcase their technological innovations, such as missiles and robots, with the support of government institutions, and is held annually by the “Turkish Technology Team Endowment” in many states in Turkey.
The Take Off Summit – which was organized in cooperation with 43 Turkish institutions, under the leadership of the Turkish Technology Team Endowment, the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and the Presidential Investment Office – aims to turn entrepreneurship dreams into reality.
Distribution of prizes
The conclusion of the Take Off Summit in Istanbul witnessed the presence of Selcuk Bayraktar, the technical director of Baykar – the company that produces Turkish drones – where he gave a speech in which he stressed the importance of innovation and keeping pace with progress in the world of entrepreneurship, and handed over various financial prizes to the owners of the winning projects at the summit. The grand prize amounted to $300,000.
The project, ideas and applications submitted were evaluated by two or more evaluators, taking into account that the idea provides a solution to the problem under investigation and is appropriate for the market. The business model is also verified, the quality of the team is evaluated, customer and partner information, and the availability of the initial product (demo model).
Arabic post
The Take Off Istanbul Summit was attended by many Arab investors and entrepreneurs.
Sheikh Mansour bin Khalifa Al Thani, one of the main participating Qatari investors, said that “Take Off” Istanbul is a distinguished event for entrepreneurship, adding that he has begun strategic cooperation with many technology projects participating in the summit.
Tariq Mehyar – from Jordan – spoke about Al-Jazari Company participating in the summit, reviewing the company’s journey from its beginnings until it became a constantly developing emerging company.
In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, Mahyar pointed out that the company’s name was inspired by the name of the Arab Muslim scientist Ismail Al-Jazari, who is considered one of the greatest engineers, mechanics, and inventors in history, and is described as the “father of robotics” and modern engineering.
Mahyar explained that the company is currently interested in developing engines used in the manufacture of drones, ships, tanks and cars.
Multiple fields
As for Abdul Latif Babli – a young Syrian man – from the “Priva Coffee” company, he presented at the “Take of Istanbul” summit his project of coffee beans that replace the drink.
He pointed out – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – that the idea is innovative and makes it easy for those who want to drink coffee to drink it at any time or place without the need for water or a dedicated machine.
Osama Abdel Hadi from the Jordanian company Mosul, which is the first big data and artificial intelligence company in the Middle East and Turkey, also participated in “Take Off” Istanbul.
Abdul Hadi told Al Jazeera Net that the company specializes in the field of smart selling through big data. So the user requests the data of the decision-makers in the targeted companies from more than a billion data records and obtains it directly with the work email and phone number so that he can reach the decision-makers with the push of a button, away from expensive traditional marketing methods and long and stressful sales procedures.
Educational platforms
From Qatar, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Thani participated in presenting the “My Teachers” electronic platform, which is a platform supported by the Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Science and Technology Park, and which cooperates with schools and parents to provide remote educational lessons in an innovative way.
In the field of health care, the Jordanian company “Shifa” participated. The company’s director, Mohamed Badir, said that it provides a qualitative shift in medical services and medical education, instead of merely providing analytical services, as it works as an advanced companion that contributes to discovering diseases and providing accurate recommendations by combining machine learning techniques and comprehensive analysis of patients’ history, which enhances the ability of doctors. To make quick and thoughtful decisions.
Badir added to Al Jazeera Net that “Shifaa” also provides innovative educational services in the medical field, as it provides modern information and continuous training to doctors, enabling them to keep pace with the latest medical developments.
Regarding teaching the Arabic language to non-native speakers, the “Arabic Unlocked” project, which is a smart phone application launched from Britain, participated in “Take Off” Istanbul.
Asad Masoud said that the application has been downloaded by more than half a million users, and aims primarily to facilitate non-Arabs’ understanding of the Holy Quran.
He added that they are in the process of adding other languages to the application to teach Arabic speakers to native speakers.
The summit activities – which were held over two days – witnessed a race in various fields, including topics such as medical and health services, automobiles, aviation, logistics services, energy, and business management.
It also includes the fields of financial banking, digital advertising, data automation, gaming, artificial intelligence, as well as robotics, wearable technologies, education, as well as agricultural and natural technologies, transportation, and communications technology.
