TÜBİTAK and Ericsson have signed an agreement to extend the support for Ericsson Research Türkiye Laboratory for another 5 years. The agreement was signed on behalf of TÜBİTAK by Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal. This collaboration will support Ericsson's new 6G and security research in Türkiye.
The event, featuring opening speeches by Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Zekeriya Coştu, TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, Ericsson Middle East and Africa President Fadi Pharaon, Ericsson Research Deputy Head Dr. Magnus Frodigh, and Ericsson Türkiye General Manager Işıl Yalçın, was attended by representatives from universities, operators, startups, other research laboratories, and leading figures in the research and innovation community. Throughout the event, international speakers delivered presentations, panel discussions were held, and posters featuring use cases were presented. The future goals of Ericsson Research in Türkiye were also shared.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Zekeriya Coştu mentioned the success story of Türkiye in building a thriving technology ecosystem over the past 10-20 years. He expressed his appreciation for the significant contributions made by global technology companies like Ericsson to the technology ecosystem in Türkiye. Coştu emphasized the importance of the collaboration between Ericsson Research Türkiye Laboratory and TÜBİTAK in capacity development in the field of communication in Türkiye.
He also highlighted the facilitative role of the 1515 program in research support and expressed his belief that the results and impacts of this collaboration would become even more tangible in the future. He hoped that this collaboration would make significant contributions to the advanced technology ecosystem in Türkiye.
TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal mentioned that they are not satisfied with the current number of research laboratories supported under the 1515 program, which has reached 9. He provided an overview of the accomplishments during the first five years of Ericsson Research Türkiye Laboratory, including 20 resident researchers, approximately 50% of whom are women, %70 of whom holding Ph.D. degrees, 35 foreign researchers who work remotely with organizations’ own resources, 16 international patents, 52 patents in the evaluation process, 46 publications, and an approximate budget of 2 million euros in support for international projects.
Mandal congratulated Ericsson Research Türkiye Laboratory for a successful five years and emphasized the expected contribution to the entrepreneurship ecosystem as one of the 154 implementing institutions for the Entrepreneurship Support Program (BİGG). He expressed their pleasure in seeing Ericsson Research Türkiye Laboratory in other strategic support programs such as TÜBİTAK's 1702-Patent-Based Technology Transfer Support Call, 1707 – SME Support Call for Order-Based R&D Projects, 1004 - Centre of Excellence Support Program, and Industrial Innovation Networks Mechanism (SAYEM).
Ericsson Research Türkiye Laboratory is the first research laboratory to be granted a 5-year extension under the TÜBİTAK TEYDEB 1515 – Frontier R&D Laboratory Support Program. Established in Türkiye in 2018 as the 11th of Ericsson Research's 19 research laboratories worldwide, it has secured funding from the European Commission in the past five years for advanced technology projects such as HEXA-X, HEXA-X-II, VERGE, TARGET-X, and DESIRE6G. Ericsson Research Türkiye collaborates with leading research and industrial institutions in Europe on research related to 6G and security.
Ericsson Research Türkiye, as one of the implementing organizations in the BİGG program, aims to increase interaction with the startup ecosystem in Türkiye, in collaboration with Türk Telekom Ventures and Middle East Technical University. It provides mentoring, coaching, and training to young entrepreneurs in the field of information and communication technologies.
10.10.2023