Our University provides a range of services, including education, mentoring, technical consultancy, pre-incubation support, access to investors, and physical infrastructure, in order to support the establishment of financially and socially sustainable businesses within the local community and to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The Karadeniz Technical University Technology Transfer Application and Research Center (KTÜ TTO) (https://www.ktu.edu.tr/ttoen) is open not only to researchers and students but also to entrepreneurs from outside the University who have innovative business ideas. Through the KTÜ TTO Pre-Incubation Center, prospective entrepreneurs receive theoretical and practical training in entrepreneurship, business idea validation, business plan preparation, company establishment, and access to financial resources, together with one-to-one technical consultancy and mentoring. Entrepreneurs accepted into the Pre-Incubation Center can also use computers, office furniture, internet infrastructure, meeting rooms, and shared working spaces free of charge.
Evidence: https://www.ktu.edu.tr/ttoen/entrepreneurship-and-commercialization-services; https://www.ktu.edu.tr/tto/hizmetlerimizogrenci
This institutional support mechanism was actively implemented in 2025. As an authorised implementing organisation under the TÜBÄ°TAK 1812 BiGG Investment Programme, KTÜ TTO provided technology- and innovation-oriented entrepreneurs with free training and mentoring, business model and business plan development support, preparation for investment processes, and assistance with company establishment. As a result of the 2025 first call of the TÜBÄ°TAK BiGG Investment Programme, five entrepreneurs supported through the BÄ°GGiriÅŸim Consortium led by KTÜ TTO qualified for investment support, and the consortium achieved a 42% success rate.
Our University also provided entrepreneurs with direct one-to-one mentoring support in 2025. The “Business Idea Evaluation and Mentoring Workshop”, organised on 10 December 2025 as part of the Grand Black Sea Forum, was open to start-ups and entrepreneurs and provided each participant with the opportunity to hold an individual business idea evaluation meeting with experts (https://www.ktu.edu.tr/ttoen/news/the-grand-black-sea-forum-hosted-by-karadeniz-technical-university-successfully-completed). KTÜ TTO’s entrepreneurship and commercialisation services further strengthen the long-term financial sustainability of start-ups by supporting their access to investor networks, funding and grant opportunities, company establishment, and the commercialisation of products and services.
Evidence: https://ktu.edu.tr/tto/girisimcilik-ve-ticarilesme-hizmetleri
The University’s community-oriented entrepreneurship approach also incorporates a sustainability dimension. On 19 June 2025, KTÜ TTO delivered applied entrepreneurship and Business Model Canvas training to local high-school students as part of the “Towards a Sustainable Future: School of Responsible Entrepreneurs” project coordinated by the Trabzon Provincial Directorate of National Education. The programme aimed to raise entrepreneurship awareness among young people, promote sustainability-oriented thinking, and support the development and structuring of creative business ideas.
Therefore, in 2025, our University went beyond simply providing information to local entrepreneurs. It directly supported the establishment and development of financially and socially sustainable businesses through a complementary range of services, including free access to university infrastructure, pre-incubation support, one-to-one mentoring, business model and business plan development, company establishment assistance, access to funding opportunities, and engagement with investors.
