The Global Cleantech Innovation Programme for SMEs and Startups in Turkey for promoting innovation in clean technologies through a cross-sectoral and multistakeholder approach to build sustainable innovation ecosystems
Description
Global Cleantech Innovation Programme for SME's in Turkey (GCIP-Turkey), also as known GEF-UNIDO Cleantech programme for SMEs in Turkey (UNIDO Project No. 130124; GEF ID: 5505), (hereafter, GCIP-Turkey) project was launched in Turkey in October 2013 by UNIDO, hosted by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), in collaboration with several other government institutions as co-financing partners. The projects primary objective was to promote clean energy technology innovations and innovative clean energy technology entrepreneurship in Turkey through a Clean Energy Technology Innovation Competition and Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (a virtual accelerator).
High potential entrepreneurs have been identified and supported in an efficient and effective manner, giving them the opportunity to further develop their entrepreneurial skills and attract investment in a competition and a business accelerator to offer participants progressing through the programmes extensive Mentoring, Training , Access to Investors and opportunities to Showcase their innovations to the media and the public. Over 130 clean technology start-ups completed the GCIP-Turkey Program in Turkey at 5 years (cycle) since 2014. Participants stand a chance to win a cash award and national business support awards, in addition to a trip to Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, CA, to participate in the Cleantech Open Global Forum (Hurriyet, Daily News 2018/02/04).<br />
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-tubitak-to-support-entrepreneu… . <br />
The GCIP program, which was opened call once a year between the years of 2014-2018, benefited from the acceleration process of 139 clean technology initiatives by evaluating 458 applicants from total of 899 applicants for 5 years. In the last 5 years, the prize money of 550.000 TL has been awarded as the starting venture capital for the 17 green initiatives which are awarded in the competition part of GCIP. In line with the objective of Gender Equality, SDG Goal 5, the number of female-led team applicants to GCIP-Turkey is around 21%, and among alumnus 23% is female team leader. Women entrepreneurs are supported by various special awards like; Best Woman-Led Team. More than 30 participants from over 20 clean technology start-up venture among GCIP alumnus i.e.; Global Forum (2014-2018), which is the international stage of the program in the United States, as well as the UN Climate Summit and Conference of the Parties (COP22-24), the Vienna Energy Forum (2015,2017 and 2018), various UN General Assembly Special Sessions and UNIDO-KOTEC Korean Agency) Workshop, etc. ... contributed to awareness, recognition and visibility through participation in international events. Within the scope of the program, a mentor team of +50 people who are permanently and actively involved within the +400-professional mentor group in the GCIP's business development (mentor) pool as well as a basic trainer staff who can provide entrepreneurship support focused on clean technologies, is one of its achievements. This aspect of the program that gave Besides training and mentoring support services, has created a human resource potential of volunteers in Turkey.
The project was expected to adopt an inter-disciplinary implementation approach involving SME clusters, national ministries, academia, industrial associations, financing institutions, foundations, venture capitalists, and utilities in Turkey and abroad with the aim of promoting innovative technologies in selected energy-intensive SME clusters across the country. A key component of the GCIP-Turkey is the annual competition-based Accelerator, which identifies the most promising innovators and entrepreneurs across a country.
A selected number of startups in a GCIP-Turkey cycle participate in a rigorous, competitive national acceleration programme that trains, mentors, promotes, and connects them to potential investors, customers and partners. As the best cleantech companies progress, they are continuously developed and assessed. The Accelerator consists of an Official Launch, Investor Connect, National Academy, Business Clinics, and Mock Judging. In addition, the selected startups are continuously mentored and trained and access to capital and showcasing opportunities are facilitated on a regular basis in order to enhance their business skills and to connect them to potential business partners, financiers and investors.
A tailored mentoring programme is provided through an elite group of general and specialist mentors and trainers drawn from industries, universities, and professional institutions, as well as business leaders from within the country and abroad. Investor Connect / In bridging the gap between the startups with technology innovations and investors that can support market based dissemination of the solutions, Investor Connect events are organized at national and global levels. Through this networking opportunity, GCIP teams introduce their innovations to the investment community, and investors gain exclusive access to credible cleantech solutions with high-impact potential. GCIP will continue to engage with impact investors and cleantech targeted financial mechanisms to further support the commercialization and market-based scale-up of the cleantech solutions.
GCIP Global Forum & Cleantech Week / The national winners are invited to the annual GCIP Global Forum & Cleantech Week, a confluence of the cleantech industry and the climate movement hosted by the Cleantech Open (CTO) in California, USA. It aims to create new business opportunities, highlight solutions, engage citizens, cultivate partnerships, and spur investment in clean technologies to address climate change. The GCIP national winners gain exposure to dynamic venture culture of Silicon Valley and are connected with a community of cleantech innovators and entrepreneurs from all over the world. The GCIP national winner also meet with the national winners of the other GCIP countries, compete for the Global Prize.
Project Overall M&E/ The project included a component dedicated to monitoring & evaluation with the aim of ensuring effective project implementation. Regular monitoring exercises, tracking tools were to be developed and used, and PIRs were to be elaborated by the PMU. As well, a mid-term and final evaluation were to be carried out. A suitable M&E plan was clearly articulated within the original design document. Allocation for funding M&E activities followed common practice for such a medium-sized project. Please see the link / Independent Terminal Evaluation GEF-UNIDO Cleantech Programme for SMEs in Turkey. UNIDO Project No.:130124, GEF Project ID.: 5505. Vienna 2018.
https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/files/2018-12/GEF%20ID-5505_G…
- 5 Accelerator programme were run during 5 annual cycles during 2014-2018. 899 start-up applications were received; 457 of these underwent pre-screening to identify the most promising ventures who participated in the Accelerator also including a National Competition as semi-finalist
- Of these 139 were accepted into the Accelerator programme, meaning that a total of 139 startups
- There were 94 women team leaders (from over eligible app.) (21%) and 32 women team leaders (from alumni teams (23%) during the 5 years. d) In 2014-2018: 42 “top teams” were identified (finalists, runner ups, special awards) at competition part of accelerator and characterized as having potential to commercialize their products in Turkey or abroad.
- 5+ group trainings were held over 20 days during the national part of programme in the July-September period / cycle: National Academy (3+3 days), Customer Validation Session (4 days), Peer-to-Peer Session (4 days), Business Clinic I and II (2+2 days), Mock-Up Jury (4 days)
- +20 Permanent mentor/trainer over +40 mentors had been given active roles for the traction of selected start-up teams at each cycle
- Contribution of +100 experts/per year to programme at different roles like; ie. trainer, mentor, jury and etc... had been provided.
- 25-30 webinars (2 webinars per week) in the July-September period during each of the 5 annual cycles were organized for participated Start-Up teams.
- 20 National Winner Start-Up from 5 annual cycles were prepared and participated in the 1-week Global Forum (USA) of The Cleantech Open, which constituted the international part of GCIP Turkey programme together with the participant of other 8 GCIP countries during the 5 year.
- Many teams had been prepared to various international event i.e. COP22, 23 and 24, Hello Tomorrow, PFAN Investment Forum, Vienna Energy Forum and etc..
- At least 5 GCIP-Turkey cleantech teams have successfully raised funding from private sector investment groups.
Global Cleantech Innovation Index (GCII) Report: The Global Cleantech Innovation Index (GCII), a biennial index and report, was first created in 2012 to investigate the question: which countries currently have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech startup companies and which will commercialize clean technology innovations over the next 10 years? The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Cleantech Group (CTG) has produced the 3rd edition of the GCII for 2017, and UNIDO has partnered with WWF and CTG to produce a special addendum to the GCII focusing on cleantech innovation ecosystem of the eight GCIP countries
The successful regular operation of the Competition-Accelerator suggests that this aspect of the intervention is now well-anchored and has moved from project mode to operational mode. This is clear evidence that the project has succeeded in establishing a national-level mechanism/platform, which is now functioning in an ongoing manner to identify, coach, and support cleantech innovators in Turkey, although the desired high-level of national coordination and optimization of disbursement of direct support have clearly not yet been achieved.
Key stakeholders (MoSIT, YEGM, ADA, TTGV, etc.) expressed interest and made commitments to continue to pursue this direction. The steady replication of the Competition-Accelerator and initial scaling up efforts (enlarged scope of categories for inclusion in cleantech, geographical outreach) show quite satisfactory impacts within this domain of the project.
The establishment of the Clean Future Fund (CFF) is a direct outcome of the GCIPs operation and sets a valuable structure for converging public and private sector investment towards the acceleration and commercialization of clean technology innovations and entrepreneurs. Strengthening of the policy and regulatory framework to favour the adoption of cleantech still need further work to foster cleantech adoption. The project was highly relevant for international/regional/national priorities and target group needs and aligned with donor priorities & UNIDOs mandate.
The project bridged a gap not covered by other mechanisms in that its support was available to nurture early-stage startups along a path to maturity and formal establishment. Given the potential and expectation for Turkey to be a role model in terms of entrepreneurship within the broader region, the project has made an important contribution in this regard. It is judged that the project operated efficiently, based on its achievement in stretching the resources originally allocated for 36 months to cover a 60-month duration (albeit leveraging highly favourable exchange rate), delivering significantly more services than initially imagined.
Project support was focussed on establishing the Competition-Accelerator, building up local mentoring capabilities, and assuring that institutional capabilities were in place to support the Competition-Accelerator’s regular operation. It is judged that the project has effectively achieved these aspects, which function as a backbone for stimulating the local innovation ecosystem.
GCIP-Turkey National Sustainability Perceptive: GCIP-Turkey programme's existed phase (Phase I) has been completed at the end of 2018. Phase I has succeeded in attracting interest and engaging start-ups in the accelerator programme. Due to the overall successful implementation of the Phase I there are substantial lessons learned derived which could be utilised to further enhance the programme moving forward. Essentially, there is a need for a comprehensive and robust post-competition support provided to start-ups in order to bridge the gap between concepts and financing. Furthermore, current human and institutional capacity is not sufficient to provide such support. Finally, Phase I did not address policy gaps adequately which would be a crucial issue to address moving forward. Strengthening the policy setting to provide the impetus to engage the contribution of co-financing partners to even more strongly position the GCIP to play its envisaged role in coordinating at national level and significantly invigorate the Turkish innovation ecosystem is a must. Phase I has resulted in almost 50 start-ups that went commercial. As described on above, the GCIP conducted between 2013 and 2018 has proven to be a success. It has built a certain level of capacity and established systems for accelerating innovative and environmentally sound initiatives developed by the start-ups and other SME actors in Turkey.
The Phase II project will build upon Phase I and will address numerous lessons learned from the activities undertaken during Phase I. The GCIP Phase II project is designed as a GEF multi-focal project.
. This analysis will help to adjust the GCIP Phase II processes as well as to raise awareness on barriers mitigation needs. Addressing the needs in the Turkish legal environment would be a significant step towards unlocking the full development potential for the environmentally sound start-ups and other relevant SMEs<br />
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• Conclusions - Key messages including impact, what made the practice break new ground, and other lessons learned. (max 500 words) : <br />
GCIP-Turkey programme's existed phase has been completed at the end of 2018 and the idea of a Phase II was already brought forward between parties at the Project Steering Comity (PSC) during its 2nd meeting (March 2016). This Phase II was architected to cover the next stage needs of start-ups and successful alumni to realize the commercialization and internationalization of their ventures by drawing on additional funding and services that were to be made available. <br />
Under this subsequent phase, the ongoing organisation of the annual Competition-Accelerator was foreseen for a further 4 years. In Phase II of programme, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the Global Environment Facility which brings together UN agencies, MDBs and international NGOs have partnered to develop a USD 3 million cash fund to support clean innovation at least for 4 years. <br />
While accelerator programme (Competition) will proposed to be a pipeline for the GCIP Phase II programme and the aspect of this new programme will be Commercialization & Going to Global with funding & investment. It has been proposed to provide commercialization grant for the selected cleantech companies base on their project proposal over their submission for call instead of only competition awards for a limited number of applicants. By this way, GCIP will be in somehow a multi-step support programme accepting submissions from "Idea Stage; Competition" to "Scale-Up; Commercialization Support" for cleantech entrepreneurs. Because, Growth (Scaling-Up) of Start-Up needs funding and financing, additional to GEF and TUBITAK funding for the programme, private sector investment engagement should be established not only for the financing of operational costs but mostly to create a cleantech fund for start-ups from various pioneer investors for green and clean technologies. <br />
For this, UNIDO-Turkey and TUBITAK have lunched "Clean Future Fund; CFF" on 8th of May 2018 in Ankara with a high level participation meeting and have called Governmental Bodies and Institutions, Private Sector as well as investors and all the related parties be a part of this volunteer movement. Even-though, Clean Future Fund; CFF is not an operational platform yet, it has been expecting positive outcomes of similar platforms and most important and critical part of this initiative to convince the investment sector to invest for Clean-tech start-ups and companies.
Role: In Country Expert for Turkey and Reviewer. https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/files/2017-11/GCII_GCIP_repor…
Note: The Publication has been published in partnership between Cleantech Group, WWF, GEF and UNIDO.
2) A Giant Project from Olive Pits: GreenCoal Start-Up Project have achieved to turn olive bagasse that remains after the extraction of olive oil into charcoal in an original system, Anadolu Jet Flight Magazine, April 2016 Issue.
Role : Author of Article.
https://www.anadolujet.com/en/corporate/anadolujet-magazine/2016/4/a-gi…
3) Independent Terminal Evaluation GEF-UNIDO Cleantech Programme for SMEs in Turkey. UNIDO Project No.:130124, GEF Project ID.: 5505. Vienna 2018. Independent Evaluation Division Office of Evaluation and Internal Oversight.
Role: Project Manager.
https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/files/2018-12/GEF%20ID-5505_G…
4) GCIP Global Programme Dissemination web link at UNIDO Platform;
https://www.unido.org/our-focus-safeguarding-environment-clean-energy-a…
5) Alumni's has been supported to participate to various international events at different platforms including Corporate of Parties (COP) in every year since 2015. Please see the press realize link that belongs to COP23 in Bonn from below link
https://www.unido.org/gcip-cop23
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Osman Malik, Mr. ATANUR, National Project Manager (NPM), PhD